by Kate Johns

Created on: February 06, 2009   Last Updated: March 17, 2009

To know that I will be graduating in just a few short years with a degree that has value, is the best feeling ever. Once I get a job, I will have a great future. I will be able to have a yearly salary that I can rely on, something I couldn't do with shift work. Considering that the economy is really bad right now, this is the best choice for millions of people right now.

I have decided to go back to career college and become a nurse. But now that I have successfully raised two children to their current ages, I have decided to go back to school and obtain my degree. It is a lot of hard work, and I have had to take extra classes in science and in math that I never took in high school.

But, I know that right now and in the future nurses are very much in demand. Many hospitals and nursing homes around the country desperately need new nurses. I have always been of those people who has felt compassion for people who are sick. I would like to eventually become a visiting nurse that goes from house to house helping people who are recently out of the hospital and who are housebound. It will be a wonderful opportunity to make someone's day brighter just by helping them for a few minutes each day.

I really am enjoying going back to school and being with people who share the same interests as I do. There are a large mix of students at school also including older people like myself, and many workers who have been laid off from their jobs in this bad economy. It's big challenge for me to go to school, because as the saying goes, "It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks." It was really difficult getting back into the swing of having a regular schedule again after being a stay at home Mom for so many years. And it was really hard to learn again. Just having to read so much information and process it every day, not to mention all of the studying.

But I have joined a study group and even though the "kids" are really fast and comprehend everything faster than I do, they are very helpful and I am learning so much about my class material as well as developing a younger attitude about life. I feel like anything is possible now that I have gone back to college.

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