Graduation!

I finally made it! I have graduated from college and am free for a bit! I finished my last term with a 3.7 and two 4.0's in my classes, which is amazing for me. I was really stressing about the Bachelor's Capstone class because, from what I read about it in the course description catalog, it was a class that dealt with everything we've learned throughout our degree. And, well, it did. But it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It was actually cool because we had some essays to write, but we also had PowerPoints to put together, and scenario projects to do. It was really interesting and never got boring or mundane. Likely because we had a different subject every week, and a different method of completing a project.

I also took Research Methods in Criminal Justice, which I was also fretting! Another required class, so there was no way of getting out of it. This class dealt uncomfortably with statistics, so I was pretty much in brain-drain mode for the last 10 weeks! But it was such a great class!! I never thought I would like it as much as I did, but I really enjoyed it. I took Statistics at SCC during my AAS degree and liked it, but it was extremely difficult! So when I found out that this class dealt a LOT with stats, I was sweating it. Thank goodness for professors who make themselves available for help. She even called me at home a few times to see if there was anything she could help me with. And come to find out, she did that to most of the class. :)

Finally, I had Advanced Career Development to hone my skills on job preparation. This class was really fun because our instructor was so upbeat and positive all the time, and she has an adorable southern accent. LOL All of our projects were compiled to build our career portfolio, and I appreciated that it was to be built for actual use, not abstract. So, I now have a rockin' resume, an even better way to write cover letters, and know how to present myself even better in interviews!

All in all, I walked away with a total 2.43 GPA (C+ average). Not something I'm incredibly proud of, but I can't be upset, either. I've learned a valuable lesson. It's much harder to focus on school when you have kids and a husband. And housework. And dinner to make every night. And....well, you get the picture. Would I change it? Not for anything in the world! Will I go back and get my Master's? Yup! I'm going to wait about a year so I can find a job and enjoy my family. :)

Now, as for going to graduation, we're not going to Chicago. It's one of those things where I've just come to terms that we're not supposed to go there. We had money saved for it, but the car desperately needed new tires. We were running on zero tread. In fact, we've been on zero tread since before winter. We were very, very blessed to have virtually no snow this winter!! So, short story even shorter, we used our Chicago money to buy tires for the car. And I'm okay with that. We are sure to be safe now that we have tread. :)

So, what we're trying to plan is to go to Miami, FL in February for graduation. We'll see if that works out. I'm not going to get as emotionally invested in Miami as I did in Chicago so if we can't go there's not a huge let-down. For now, I'm going to focus on getting a great job and moving forward in my career!