Uni: Finally! The End.

Part of me really thought that the day would never come. I wrote this post after I'd graduated, but, I was still attending Grad school. I've since taken a break from that, for financial reasons, I'll touch on that more tomorrow, if you're interested.

Originally published on January 10th, 2012:

Finally!

The Non-Traditional Billiken blog was started two years ago, if you’d like to take a trip back in time and relive part of this SLU journey with me:
[these links lead to the posts which I shared here on my blog last week]

• Getting Started – what derailed my education and what got me back on track… despite a little surprise
• Eureka! – when I discovered I no longer ‘hated’ school, reviewing my first few ‘core studies’ classes at SLU
• Climbing the Mountain – picking up steam and enjoying being on the downward slope of my educational journey
• Let’s talk turkey – A quality education comes with a price, here’s how I dealt with it
• Burnout – I feel my success is primarily due to keeping a positive attitude, but even I have felt the overwhelming agony of burnout during my time at SLU

So, here I am, fresh after a welcome holiday break, which snuck up on me while I was hustling to finish up final projects at the end of my last semester. I am still basking in the glow of the midyear commencement, which occurred on December 16th. I keep fighting the urge to pinch myself and see if it’s really, really real, if I have honestly reached the goal held in my heart since graduating high school in 1998: the completion of a bachelor’s degree.

It meant a lot to have my husband and sons share that day with me, since they are the ones I did this for, and since they are the ones who have eaten way too much pizza and canned pasta sauce over the past three years. Also, my Mom and big sister were there. I didn't get to attend my Associate's graduation ceremonies, having just given birth to my oldest, so that graduation passed almost unnoticed.

Hearing the inspirational speeches during the ceremony, and watching hundreds of driven and successful adults walk across the stage with pride while the names of their degrees were read out to a stadium full of family and friends, really touched my heart.

So, what’s next?

Right now, I am enjoying the break after having been a full-time student since 2009. The downtime has been really refreshing over the past two days. Having no homework to do during this lunch hour makes me want to grin with pleasure.

But, there is something about being busy and having a goal that drives you to make the most productive use of the little time you have. Something tells me this feeling of relief at being finished after finals will wear off within a couple of weeks…

You know what? I don’t think I’m finished yet. SPS has taught me how much I still have yet to learn. A year ago, I signed up for the Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s Program and am looking forward to more classes in the Organizational Informatics program.

The classes I have taken so far were extremely interesting, and I do not mind all of the writing that is required at this level because it all delves into the details that fascinate me. I am hungry to see what the Informatics classes have in store.

Good luck to you all, as you read the stories of your fellow (or future) students here on this blog. We may not be ‘traditional’, but, we are willing to work hard to achieve our dreams, so, just be sure to dream big.

* all opinions expressed on this blog, and anywhere else I write online, represent my own opinions and not those of my employer nor it's affiliates.