Some of us can slide back into school more easily than others. My friend Laurel did just that. Still, reintroducing a school schedule into your life will alter your routines and future plans in unexpected ways. She came face to face with this dilemma and was forced to make a decision that might have affected her grade. How do you decide between previous commitments and the new demands of school? Here is what she had to say:
Fortunately, graduate school fit pretty seamlessly into my life. I had been out of college for six years and working in public schools for four of those, so I knew I was ready to get back into school and move forward in my career. After sifting my way through the various roles I could play within public education, I reached the conclusion that I wanted to be a high school counselor. The school I attended for undergrad had a School Counseling program that had an excellent reputation amongst the school staff I knew at the time so it seemed like a natural fit. Once the program accepted me, I had to make a decision about staying with my job, which had grown to play a pivotal role in both my personal and professional growth over the years. My heart would have broken to have left it any earlier than was necessary so I cut down my hours as minimally as possible in order to accommodate the internships required by my program.
For the duration of the first semester, I was beat. I spent three days working, two days at internships and entire weekends doing homework. Having been out of school for six years, it took a bit to re-familiarize myself with study habits, balance of time and staying sane, but I have always felt at home in an educational setting, especially a small personal environment like that offered by my program. I also genuinely love the challenge of getting organized within a new system so graduate school offered me the opportunity to navigate a new level of responsibility in which I ended up thriving, especially because I simply let it knock me out in the beginning.
I remember being warned that professors were very strict about how many classes you are allowed to miss each semester. So when I realized that prior to my acceptance into the program, I had already planned a trip only a couple months into the term, I was stressed about having to give a first impression that seemed to demonstrate a lack of dedication. However, it was important to me to keep my life going when I take on any commitment, rather than just stopping everything to let one facet of my life take over. Fortunately, counseling programs frequently emphasize self-care and balance so it never became a problem. Another moment, about a year into the program, that always stuck with me, was when I enrolled in an evening course in early June that only lasted a month or so, but which is the time of year high schools hold their graduation ceremonies. I had a student whose family I knew extremely well and who I had been working with since she was in middle school so attending her graduation was incredibly important to me and to her family. I told the teacher on the first day of class, to which she responded that my grade would automatically drop one letter grade because that was the school’s policy on a short term course such as this one. Incredibly disappointed and somewhat shocked that a program teaching us to be caring, committed educators would punish me for doing so, I went with my gut anyway and missed the class to attend her graduation. On the last day of the course, the professor pulled me aside and told me that she wasn’t going to enforce the policy because of my performance in the class and because I did the right thing. This was one of the more powerful moments for me in the entire program because I had chosen my life and prior commitments over fulfilling some small requirement.
Mine was only a two year program, and I was fortunate to get a job using a transitional license during my second year, instead of completing another internship, which was an exciting but stressful challenge. Diving in and being able to bring that real experience back to my peers in the program built my confidence and still allowed me the safety net of continuing to receive support from my professors while performing the work. Although that job was not my ideal introduction to the career for a variety of reasons, it threw me in and taught me some of the complexities of working in public education. Considering that it landed me where I am now, I have no regrets.
Just goes to show that the adage, “You give up some things to have others” is always there if we engage it and take advantage. The rewards may be greater than we ever expected.