… Or, how to graduate community college in as little as 14 years!

The Beginning

I started my college journey before I even graduated from high school.  The theory was that I would complete the easy courses and get them out of the way so that I could finish up early.  I started with taking CIS-133, a basic computer class.  Today, they teach you about this stuff:

Prepares the student for the on-going ethical, environmental, societal and global issues of technology. Presents computer concepts including input and output of data and how information is processed, stored, and shared. Examines the purpose of networks, their technologies, scopes, and connectivity issues. Gives major consideration to Internet technology and access emphasizing research, education, communication, e-commerce, and security. Provides an introduction to software engineering and the analysis and design of computer systems. Discusses computer platforms, architectures, and system software. Develops PC competencies and skills including file management, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, database, Internet, Web pages, and graphics.

Back in 1995, in the Midland off-campus center we used Microsoft Offce 4 on Microsoft Windows 3.1.  This was before Microsoft went to the year numbering method for their software, of course.  Printouts were handled by dot matrix printers, and done rather poorly at that.  Key concepts included saving files, what a word processor is, and so forth.  It’s a world of difference between the class I took and what it’s become.

Still, I was in school to get a degree in Computer Information Systems, CIS.  This stuff was remedial at best.  Because of my disinterest in the class, I only received a B+.

This class ended up being the only one I would take during high school.

The Early Years

After graduating High School in 1997, I began taking classes, starting with the basics:  College Composition 1, Algebra, and C++ Programming.  These would, I believed, be a good base to start at.  I wasn’t going to school full time, which I later learned was a mistake.   I intended to earn my Associates Degree and transfer to Saginaw Valley State University.  Oddly for a CIS major, I aced College Comp and got C’s in both of my other courses.  Perhaps this should have been where I decided to change my program, but I never did.  Computers were what I loved, and I really intended to do whatever it took to get through the coursework.

Next semester, the fall of 1998, I began taking the next math class, skiing, a computer class called as/400 intro, and the next college composition class.  I did reasonably well, except for intermediate algebra.  This was another sign, perhaps, that I missed.

I continued.  Throughout these first years I didn’t take college as seriously as I should have.  That, combined with my part time status caused me not to make quick progress through my required courses. In 1999 I continued my poor math related scores.  In 2000 it all fell completely apart.

The Bad Years

In 2000 I got a job at a .com, and had a schedule that varied.  I had difficulty in keeping hours straight, and attending classes regularly.  I massively bombed, and failed all my classes in the fall of 2000.  It was very disheartening, but I didn’t worry about it too much since, after all, I had a job that I was happy to work at.  My GPA fell to the lowest it had ever been, a 2.55.  I still live with the mark these classes made on my transcript;  I had neither the time to retake them, nor the capability to in one instance (the class is no longer offered).

So I dropped out.  Not officially, of course – I just stopped going.  Eventually my job disappeared, my marriage disappeared, and I became saddled with debt.

Every time I thought about college I would feel sick to my stomach.  It seemed like a foregone conclusion that I would graduate from college when I was in high school.  Things seemed beyond repair.

Jolene

Eventually I met my wife, and she had expressed a desire to go to school to get out of her current place of employment at some point in the future.  I shared my feelings, how I felt like I had failed miserably and not lived up to my expectations.  It was then that, with Jolene’s encouragement, I went back to school.  Without her, where I am now would certainly not be possible.  She helped fix me.

What would I do, though?  I decided that perhaps working with computers alone was not for me.  I looked at my skills, and what I enjoyed about running my own business.  Strangely, the financial aspects were the most enjoyable.  Something in accounting, then, would perhaps be good?

The Returning Student

I went to Delta and signed up again, and got my new ID card.  I signed up for a science class, to fulfill a requirement for SVSU and a Intro to Accounting class.

It was strange to enter back into the classroom.  I was considerably older than most of the students, which was dismaying in its own way.

I excelled at both classes. Since then, this has been what my transcript has looked like:

There is no entry for Guitar yet, but I’m certain I’ve received an A.  The GPA calculation since I’ve returned is a 3.755, which is quite a bit more impressive than the 2.55 I had previously.  Cumulatively, it’s only raised me up to a 3.04 so far because of my other failed classes in 2000.

Perhaps most entertainingly, one of the E’s I recieved in 2000 was in Accounting!

Highlights

There’ve been some interesting times in class I’ve had since I’ve returned

• The Mr-Wizard esque science teacher in my first semester returning
• Nearly turning an E in accounting into an A (it would’ve been more satisfying than the A-)
• Taking the required 1 credit gym class and having to run a mile lap with a bunch of 18 year olds.  Getting lapped.
• Taking two speech classes, since I had decided to go to CMU, which requires a different class than SVSU
• Calculus is still hard.  Statistics is much easier and more interesting.  I’m glad to be done with both, at lease insofar as classes are concerned
• Almost acing Intermediate/Managerial accounting.  I was 1 point shy of a perfect score.
• Learning that adjunct professors don’t necessarily care about their classes.
• Microeconomics is much more interesting than Macroeconomics.
• I enjoy teachers that use beer instead of ‘widgets’.
• Getting told that I couldn’t leave my Business Communication class without penalty to my grade, even after I had completed all of the classwork and homework due for the next period – with nothing scheduled for the rest of the class except for working on, you guessed it, the homework that was due.  Being spoken to as though I were in middle school.

Things I’ve Learned

• I perform best when I have a lot of things on my plate.  I do better with a full schedule than a mostly empty one.
• Organization is the key to A’s
• Note-taking on the laptop is key.  I cannot read my own writing otherwise.
• I am apparently very effective at public speaking, regardless of my distaste for it.
• The teaching staff, for the most part, has been excellent.  The support staff, for the most part, has been terrible

Graduation

Tomorrow I will be graduating from Delta.  It’s been a part of my life for so long. Strangely, I will have one more ‘make-up’ class this summer over the internet, so I don’t waste time at CMU taking it.  The only thing I know is that I cannot stop.  We must continue to push our boundaries to continue to grow.  I am slowly turning into the person that I want to become.