I was so nervous when I enrolled in college as an adult student. I experienced all the nerves and apprehensions that I now realize every adult student feels. Now I use my experience to identify with other re-entry students and to encourage better services for adult students.
Like adult students always do, I soon started to realize something completely unexpected: that I really wasn't the dumbest person in college, and I wasn't going to be ostracized or ignored in favor of the young coeds. I discovered that most of the faculty simply cared about people who cared about learning.
I began to work in the Office of Nontraditional Learning at Armstrong Atlantic State University to conduct workshops for adult students, and I eventually pursued graduate work in Adult Education at the University of Georgia.
Over the years, I've met with students of all walks of life, backgrounds, ages, and goals. The one thing they all have in common is a desire to grow and challenge themselves through educational pursuit--not necessarily in the university setting, nor any type of classroom at all. Education, I've learned, comes in many forms and through many means.
In addition to writing for Suite101, I write an online <a href=homeworktips.about.com>homework and study guide site for teens</a>.
I have a deep interest in African-American history and I write screenplays on this topic as a hobby. I recently contributed a chapter to a book entitled <a href=http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/halwom.html>Women on the Civil War Battlefront</a>, by Richard Hall. This chapter concerned the work of African-American women who served as spies and scouts during the Civil War. In addition to these personal pursuits, I have edited books and articles for my husband who writes about motorsports.