Master's Degree by the age of 25? Why not!

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Education has always been apart of my life.  My mother has made her career in the field, I started Montessori school at the age of 3 and now, I work on a college campus.  When I look around, education (or the lack thereof) has a major impact on people’s lives.  Statistically, college graduates make a million dollars more in their lifetime than a person with a high school diploma.  (This makes me feel much better about my expensive, yet very useful undergraduate education!)

When I was a student at Drake, I loved it so much and learned that I never had to leave the college environment and could actually make a career out of working there.  I attended the BIG XII Conference on Black Student Government in February 2007 and learned about the field of higher education and that I could even earn a master’s degree.  From then on, I knew that I would look to make a career in student affairs/higher education. 

Fast forward to May 2010 and I’ve graduated from Drake, ready for the “real world.” I’m pretty sure I applied for at least 100 jobs and by September, I was hired by Northern Arizona University to work as the Parent and Family Services Coordinator.  Working on a college campus has its benefits, the major one being a discount on tuition.  I contemplated attending graduate school straight out of undergrad, but wanted to avoid paying out of pocket for another degree if I could. 

I took my first graduate course in Spring 2011 and started contemplating the graduate program that I wanted to take on.  Finally, I decided on Human Relations and ambitiously, I will graduate in December 2012.  I made a personal goal to have an advanced degree by the age of 25.  By taking two classes each term, including summer and also taking a course during the winter term, I can make this happen.  I did run into a slight problem this summer already.  I signed up for a statistics course, knowing that this was not my strongest subject, but it is a required course for my program.  I started doing the work and after a short vacation, lost a little bit of motivation and fell behind in the coursework.  I ended up dropping the course and will look to take it in person instead of online.  I recognize my strengths and statistics is not one of them!  To stay on track, I had to pick up an additional class over the summer, so for the past 5 weeks, I have been on an academic grind.  Finally, the courses were over on August 9 and ended up with a 3.5 GPA (go me!) 

I find that education has benefited me in many ways, opened up a lot of doors and I’m ready for the future, true to the words of Malcolm X.

Getting to the Goal: One Step at a Time

“I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful.” – Trey Songz

Sounds good, right? Who doesn’t want to be successful?  How do you get there?

His lyrics talk about getting the money, cars, clothes, and of course, the hoes.  In my life, I want to continue to find success, to keep growing and keep moving forward. 

Earlier this year, I decided to embark on a journey to train for and complete an 8K race.  Once I said I would do it, I was focused.  I went online to find a training schedule, taped it in my planner and counted down the days until the race on Saturday, April 30.  I also found more motivation by telling friends and family about my goal.  In conversations, they would ask how the training was going.  This probing definitely kept me on track because I was determined not to disappoint myself or others who believed that I could actually achieve what I set forth to do.

I finished the Drake Relays on the Roads race in 57 minutes.  Crossing the finish line felt great and it was the culmination of 7 weeks of training.  I recall one night of going to the gym at 9:30 pm.  I had a long day of work, class and attending an event on campus, but I knew the sacrifice would pay off in the long run.

The achievement of this goal is a reminder that if you believe it, you can achieve it.  Yes, it’s a cliché line, but it is true.  So now, more goals, more action plans to achieve those goals and goal realization are on my mind.  In setting goals, it is important to keep these things in mind:

Write your goal down.

Verbalize it!

-Tell people about it and they will help you with accountability.

Put a date on it.

-It might also help to have markers to help you feel like you are taking steps to actually achieving the goal.

Expect moments of discouragement, but don’t accept defeat.

Encourage yourself in the process.

-I had plenty moments where I was repeating Philippians 4:13 in my head while on the treadmill.

Here’s to great goal setting and making those goals a reality!