When I decided to return to college to pursue a completely different career (but something I am very interested in), I was hesitant. I have to admit that I felt very ‘safe’ in what I had been doing for the telephone company. I worked with a great group of people, I had a handle on what my responsibilities were and tried to do my job to the best of my ability. While my work felt safe and comfortable, I didn’t feel challenged.
It was Earl’s prompting that convinced me that I should take that leap and go back to school for a degree in Civil Engineering. He has more confidence in me than I have in myself. I was convinced that I would be a lousy student, since I was a lousy college student the first time around 20 years ago. I was all worried that I would be this old guy sitting in a room of young folks that were avoiding me like the plague.
I quickly learned that there are a lot of adults heading back to school and that I easily connected with my fellow students. I was a little rusty when it came to studying and quite frankly I don’t know how the young folks do it these days; there’s so many distractions with instant messenger, iPods, cell phones and whatnot, during my first run at college I had a hard enough time dealing with Rock 102 on the radio and Bewitched reruns blaring on the television set.
Nevertheless, I tried my hardest at my five courses this first semester. I participated in class discussions and took the initiative in my drafting classes when I felt I had a handle on the drawing but others around me were struggling.
Today I got my first “report card”. I don’t like to brag, but…
I start my one summer class on Monday. It’s a math class I must take to catch up with the rest of my peers, since I hadn’t done advanced algebra in 20+ years and I needed to take a refresher course this past semester.
In January I was very nervous about starting school. Today I’m actually excited to be starting classes again.
