Non-traditional student gets fresh start at Webster, gains confidence
By: Latreecia Wade
Issue date: 9/2/04 Section: Opinion/Editorial
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I am a non-traditional transfer student hailing from a local community college. I am just entering my junior year and am a single mother of a severely handicapped son. I dropped out of high school to take care of my son. When he was able, I went back and got a GED. I had never gone to a prom, or walked across the stage at a graduation ceremony.
Those mistakes of my past haunted me every day in more ways than one. Not only did I have to deal with the fact that I was only 17 years old and had no means or resources to take care of a child, but also I constantly had to sit home day after day and watch my child suffer.
The choice to go back to school was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. More than the fact that I wanted to educate myself, I wanted to be free. I was struggling living on public aid, which is one of the most degrading experiences that I have ever encountered, and it prompted me to want to provide a better life for my child. It felt as though I was begging the government for scraps and I am not a person who looks for handouts.
Enrolling in the community college prepared me for Webster. I started taking college level courses and rebuilding my confidence in myself. I began to realize that having a child did not seal my fate. I could go on. I could pursue my dreams.
The day I got my acceptance letter from Webster, was the day I had arrived. I did what many people said I could not do, and what I gave up on. I am a university student. I plan to spend a total of three more years at this school and do the best that I can. On a beautiful sunny spring day in May, my name will be called; and I will stand up, walk across the stage, shake someone's hand and commence to lose my mind!
Latreecia Wade, a junior journalism major, is a contributing writer for The Journal.
