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Education Inspiration: Richard M., 38

I didn't know why I wanted to go to college. It seemed like the natural next step after high school, and my parents wanted me to go. Basically, I found that I was expected to fit in with the crowd, when all I wanted to do was stand out. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, let alone a career, so I enrolled in courses that looked like fun. I had already decided to quit, in fact, when I walked into my Sociology of Deviance class. The professor was a bit of a deviant himself (an avid motorcyclist and former inmate), and he cut an imposing figure against the rest of my college experience. The first lesson was about how people deviate from norms and how they fit in. From that first day, I was hooked on the workings of the human mind. Instead of quitting, I declared my sociology major. In a time when I didn't want to fit in anywhere, my education defined me.
Richard M., 38
Charlotte, NC, USA

My parents came to this country from Guadalajara. I was born here, in L.A. I'm the eldest son of six kids. When I graduated from high school, everyone assumed I would go to work at my uncle's restaurant and help support the family. Everyone except for my high school guidance counselor. She said that with my grades, I could get a scholarship to go to college. I saw my choices laid out before me: take the job and help raise my brothers and sisters, or take the scholarship and make the most of this opportunity. I didn't want to give up my dream of exploring the world, but my family needed me.
To make a long story short, I did go to college. I worked part-time and sent what I could to my mother. Between evening schedules and online classes, I made it work. I graduated with a degree in business. I don't know if my family understood the choice I made, but it was right for me. And I think they're proud of me now.
Jaime Gonzalez, 25
Irvine, California

When I was a kid my dad would sometimes take me to work with him. He worked at the dump, on the outskirts of the town. I would wander around, looking for hidden treasure in the junk. Beyond the dump was the rocky desert, stretching out miles and miles. That became my favorite place to kill time--the rocks were so interesting up close, with little lines and color patterns. I felt like I had discovered a secret, because no one else was out there.
Then one day in school the biology teacher brought in his collection of rocks and minerals to kick off the geology unit. Some of them were split in half to reveal brilliant gems inside, little mountain ranges of quartz. I learned about the layers of the earth, how to identify minerals, etc.
That was the beginning of my rock fascination. I vowed to learn all I could about rocks--my friends even nicknamed me the Rocker. Eventually I went off to college (the first in my family to go), where I majored in geology.
R. Jackson, 35
Albany, CA

I'm a pastry chef. When I was eighteen I left home to attend culinary school in Manhattan. Since then I've apprenticed in Paris and learned from some of the world's top chefs. But my most memorable educational experience took place when I was still in high school. My mom worked two jobs to support us. Every day she would come home and flop into the armchair, exhausted. One day I decided to bake her a chocolate soufflé. It was the most indulgent thing I could think of, and I wanted her to feel like a queen. That day's soufflé flopped--literally--and I tossed it. But I vowed to keep trying until I got it right. It became a secret, my quest for the best soufflé. I even ordered the best cocoa powder I could find online. Finally the day came: the soufflé left the oven just as my mom pulled into the driveway. I dusted it with powered sugar and set out a spoon. The look on her face when she took a bite made all my hard work worthwhile. I had learned to make a perfect soufflé, but more importantly, I'd learned the value of persistence, and the joy of putting a smile on someone's face.
Heather Johnson, 23
New York, NY

I've always been a doodler, drawing little pictures any chance I can. A couple times I got busted in class. I would get so involved in my cartoon world that I wouldn't even notice the teacher until the paper was snatched away. One time my teacher called me in after class--not unusual--but what she said took me by surprise. She told me about a class at the local community college that she thought I should take: animation.
Was I interested? I was. That class was a revelation. I didn't know school could be like this. I saw my imaginary characters take shape on screen, and I wanted to learn more and more about this cool technology. Once I had a purpose, everything became easier. I wanted to be an animator, and to get there I had to graduate high school. Then I went on to college, where I got an associate's degree in Animation. Even before I graduated I started getting offers from people who wanted to animate their websites. Ultimately I want to work on feature films, for a company like Pixar.
Joe Stein, 22
Paramus, New Jersey

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I went back to school in my mid-thirties. After enrolling in a history class I was told I could not write a passing essay. That brought me to tears. The instructor recommended the college writing lab. It wouldn't have occurred to me to go there. Frankly, I was embarrassed. They were helpful at the lab. My coach said that simply because I had never learned the documentation style, I wasn't a loser. That helped.
As the semester went on, my essays came back with better grades and great comments from the instructor. I still hate organizing and rewriting. I want to get it right the first time. But by the end of my second year, my lit instructor told me that I should consider changing majors to English. That's amazing to me.
I think older students are more focused. But many never learn about the help that's out there. I'd say, give yourself a chance.
Lauren Okker, 38
Newark, NJ

In high school, I had to do a report on the Vietnam War for history class. I was stuck. The book I had checked out was boring and filled with unfamiliar names and dates. Uninspired, I caught the city bus home. Along the way, an older man across the aisle saw the book and said simply: "I was there." He didn't tell me much more than that, really. Just that he had been shipped off to Vietnam when he was still a teenager, about my age. It was hot and humid there, easy to get lost in the jungle. Hard to see the enemy. Somehow what he said--and didn't say--told me more about the war than the textbook. He had a long scar on his arm that disappeared into his shirtsleeve. When I got home, the report just wrote itself.
Katherine H., 33
California, USA

When my family moved across the country, I was in the middle of the tenth grade. I found myself lonely at a new school, and my grades dropped. After a term of summer school Algebra, I wasn't looking forward to school anymore. That fall, I found myself in Ms. Rifkin's Journalism class. She encouraged me to write editorial articles from my world, even though my world was mostly pep rallies and boring classes. In the hour I saw her every day, she focused on the events of my teenage world, and asked me to challenge them. Though I didn't realize it at the time, she treated the school like a city, and her students like professional journalists. The importance of a deadline was something I needed to learn, and my grades improved with my self-confidence. Ms. Rifkin taught me to make my own headlines in life.
Amy G., 23
TX, USA

I've learned that it is never too late to get your education. The first step was the hardest: to overcome the fear of failure, and to motivate myself to go to class more than 20 years after high school graduation. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I gained so much, and I loved every moment of it.
Debra
Huntington Beach, CA

To be brutally honest, I cursed every day of my schooling. Fitting squarely into the non-traditional student definition, I worked full-time during the day and attended classes at Georgia State University in the evenings. I also completed an array of online courses on my way to a graduate degree. And while I cursed those days then, I look back on them now quite fondly for I know finishing my degree was the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life.
And so if I could impart only one piece of advice on those struggling campus and online college students out there, it would be this: "Never give up on your goals and never, ever quit working." Because, as hard as it may be to believe, there will be an end. An end to the research and studying. An end to the critical responses and literature reviews. An end to the stress and rigors of noble academic pursuits. And, if you're like me, you'll probably miss it when it's gone.
Kelly R, 33
Atlanta, Georgia, United States