Back to School

It's that time of year again.  Students of all ages are returning to school.  Here locally, that day was August 27th; in Georgia much earlier August 6th.  My children, who are home schooled by my wonderful (x)wife, are starting September 10th.  In the full spirit of this time of year, I made the decision to get busy and accomplish another of my bucket list items.  I enrolled in college.

I graduated high school in 1987 (yes, I know, I am old...).  I attended Western Illinois University immediately following.  That attempt only lasted 2 years.  I admit I was too immature at that time.  I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  I had 4 declared majors (Biology, Psychology, Special Education, and Parks and Recreation) in those 4 semesters.  And my grades reflected this; I pulled whopping 2.01 GPA.

Since I was hapless and wandering, and since I had jokingly mentioned to my mother that I guess I would just join the military-to which she told me I could never get through Basic Training, wrong answer, it became a challenge-I enlisted in the Army and spent 8 and a half years there.  Once I got out of the military, I made a second attempt at college.

About 3 and a half years after leaving the military, I enrolled in West Georgia Technical College majoring in Computer Information Science.  The courses were interesting and I enjoyed them, even going to school full time and working at least 50 hours a week.  It was a busy time, with 2 babies at the house and one on the way, but I excelled in my courses and had a 3.99 GPA and was one course short of my degree when I left school to take a job which offered better opportunities and required relocation.

I took a hiatus due to the new job, though did take some courses just to keep me busy.  I always desired to complete my degree, any degree, just to have a since of accomplishment.  In 2008, I enrolled in Andersonville Theological Seminary, a complete distance learning school.

The Associate's Degree program in Biblical Studies is not that much of a challenge, but there is a good opportunity to learn, if you apply yourself.  I took my time and absorbed the coursework.  Since I was living life and working, and took a break for a while due to my head not being in the game, I finally completed my Associate's Degree in the summer of 2011.  I was happy to have that under my belt (after only 24 years, an Associate's!).

Well, since the novelty has worn off some, I have decided to again enroll and pursue an Bachelor's Degree in Christian Education, again with the fully distance learning Andersonville Theological Seminary.  The curriculum for the Bachelor's Degree looks more challenging and I hope to get this started soon.

Will I ever use this degree? Probably not.  Not from lack of desire to use it, but rather more from lack of opportunity.  I have a minimum of 10 years and 9 months until I can retire, and a Dr. stated life expectancy of much less, so there you go.

I will just be happy to have something that keeps me engaged and challenges me a bit for a while and the added bonus of a degree will be nice.  Who knows, if I stick around long enough I may even keep going in pursuit of my Master's and Doctorate.  I would even make people address me as Dr.  Why not? I earned it. LOL.