In the fall of 1996 I started my first year of college at Chabot Junior College. Two years later I earned my Associate Degree and headed off to BYU. When I left California for Utah I also left Chris behind. I spent two semesters working toward my Bachelor Degree but in the summer of '99 I came home and didn't go back. Chris and I were getting married that October.
About a year later I decided to finish my degree at California State University Hayward. I was pregnant with Ainsley at the time and was only able to complete one quarter before she was born. When she was old enough to be left with my mom I went back to CSUH. I had six classes left until graduation when Chris was offered a job in Texas and we moved. I was devastated. I wanted to finish my degree so badly!
Shortly after we moved I discovered that BYU was offering a program where I could complete my degree from home. I applied for their Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) Program and began taking classes. I soon started to wonder what exactly a BGS Degree was. When I contacted BYU about it they said it was a degree that was kind of in between an Associate and a Bachelor. After learning about it, I knew I wouldn't be happy earning that degree. I stopped pursuing my BGS Degree in the fall of 2005. I had come to terms with the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to finish college until my kids were all in school. The problem was that the desire to earn my degree was always in the back of my mind.
Earlier this year I started wondering how many classes I would need to take to finish the degree I started at BYU if they transferred my classes from CSUH. I contacted the Geography department and everything started falling into place. I was referred to a professor who was in charge of transferring classes and he accepted all of my geography classes from CSUH except for one. I was told I needed three more classes to graduate!
I just completed my first class through BYU's Independent Study Department. I am currently taking a class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Austin Community College and I will soon be taking my third and final class through Sam Houston State University's Independent Study department. I will be ready to graduate in the spring or summer of next year! After 12 years of trying to earn my degree, I am FINALLY completing my Bachelor of Science in Geography!
5 comments:
YAY!!! That's awesome; good for you!!! What an accomplishment!! I'm so glad that you kept pursuing it and didn't give up!!! What a great example you are to your beautiful children!! And you have valid excuses for having a hard time keeping up with everything; it's very understandable!! ;) Just remember to breathe!! He he! Have a good weekend my dear!
Amen to everything Tara said...she took all the words right out of my mouth! You seriously are my hero! That is so great that you are getting your degree. Good luck keeping up with everything. Your family will be so blessed for your efforts and hard work :) Love you!
That is awesome! I have so much work ahead of me to finish mine but your story actually motivates me again and wants to make me finish what I've started. Good for you Christa and your kids will be so proud of you! I'm very impressed.
Wow, good job! I can't imagine undertaking that with 3 kiddos! That's so cool that everything fell into place and they accepted your credits! Good luck!
I love the recap of schooling. I remember hanging out with you during some of that time! Congrats on going back and I am sure you will finish now. Hopefully this will never hang over you again! Good Luck balancing it all, I admire you!
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