{"id":193,"date":"2017-11-09T06:04:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T06:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/chapter\/58-words-of-wisdom-something-was-different\/"},"modified":"2024-03-31T20:15:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-31T20:15:59","slug":"58-words-of-wisdom-something-was-different","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/chapter\/58-words-of-wisdom-something-was-different\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 8: Words of Wisdom: Something Was Different","rendered":"Chapter 8: Words of Wisdom: Something Was Different"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n

Jacqueline Tiermini Story<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

I have earned both a bachelor\u2019s and a master\u2019s degree and I have nearly twenty years of teaching experience. Would you ever guess that I contemplated not going to college at all? I originally thought about going to Beauty School and becoming a Cosmetologist. It was to me, honestly the easy way out since I was sick of all the drama after high school. The thought of college seemed overwhelming. Why did I really need to have a college degree when all I ever wanted was to get married and be a stay-at-home mom? My friends weren\u2019t going to college either, so I often wondered if going would complicate our friendship.<\/p>\r\n

I decided to go anyway, and it did<\/em> separate us a bit. While I was writing a ten-page paper for my summer class in Genetics and Heredity, my friends were swimming in my<\/em> pool. They also had the chance to buy new cars and new clothes and to go on vacations. I just went to school, driving my used Nissan Sentra, without much more than gas money and a few extra bucks. Again, why was I doing this? It would have been easier to just do what my friends were doing.<\/p>\r\n

Little by little, semesters went by and I graduated with my bachelor\u2019s degree in Education. I started substitute teaching immediately and within six months I was offered a full-time job. Just like that, I had more money and all kinds of new opportunities and I could now consider a new car or going on vacation just like my friends. At that point, I decided to continue my education and get my master\u2019s degree. Yes, it was a lot of hard work again, and yes, my friends wondered why I wanted to go back again, but I knew then that this was the best choice for me. The challenge wasn\u2019t knowing where I wanted my career to go, but rather overcoming the pull to settle into a lifestyle or career because it was easy, not because it was what I wanted.<\/p>\r\n

By the time I graduated with my master\u2019s degree I realized that something was different. For all the years that I felt behind or unable to keep up with what my friends had, I was suddenly leaps and bounds ahead of them career-wise. I now had two degrees, a full-time teaching job, and a plan to keep my career moving forward. I was able to do all of the things that they had done all those years and more. None of them had careers, just jobs. None of them had long-term plans. None of them were as satisfied with their choices any longer and a few of them even mentioned that they were jealous of my opportunity to attend college.<\/p>\r\n

Don\u2019t be fooled. Being a college student is a lot of work and, like me, most students have questioned what they are doing and why they are doing it. However, the rewards certainly outweigh all of the obstacles. I used to hear, \u201cAttending college will make you a well-rounded person\u201d or \u201cIt sets you apart from those that do not attend,\u201d yet it never felt true at the time. Eventually though, you will come to a point where you realize those quotes are true and you will be on your way to earning that degree!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n

Licenses and Attributions:<\/h3>\r\nCC licensed content, Shared previously:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nExplore the insights on adapting to academic challenges in the essay \"Something Was Different\" authored by Jacqueline Tiermini, from \"Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom,\" edited by Thomas Priester<\/a> (CC BY: Attribution).\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

Jacqueline Tiermini Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have earned both a bachelor\u2019s and a master\u2019s degree and I have nearly twenty years of teaching experience. Would you ever guess that I contemplated not going to college at all? I originally thought about going to Beauty School and becoming a Cosmetologist. It was to me, honestly the easy way out since I was sick of all the drama after high school. The thought of college seemed overwhelming. Why did I really need to have a college degree when all I ever wanted was to get married and be a stay-at-home mom? My friends weren\u2019t going to college either, so I often wondered if going would complicate our friendship.<\/p>\n

I decided to go anyway, and it did<\/em> separate us a bit. While I was writing a ten-page paper for my summer class in Genetics and Heredity, my friends were swimming in my<\/em> pool. They also had the chance to buy new cars and new clothes and to go on vacations. I just went to school, driving my used Nissan Sentra, without much more than gas money and a few extra bucks. Again, why was I doing this? It would have been easier to just do what my friends were doing.<\/p>\n

Little by little, semesters went by and I graduated with my bachelor\u2019s degree in Education. I started substitute teaching immediately and within six months I was offered a full-time job. Just like that, I had more money and all kinds of new opportunities and I could now consider a new car or going on vacation just like my friends. At that point, I decided to continue my education and get my master\u2019s degree. Yes, it was a lot of hard work again, and yes, my friends wondered why I wanted to go back again, but I knew then that this was the best choice for me. The challenge wasn\u2019t knowing where I wanted my career to go, but rather overcoming the pull to settle into a lifestyle or career because it was easy, not because it was what I wanted.<\/p>\n

By the time I graduated with my master\u2019s degree I realized that something was different. For all the years that I felt behind or unable to keep up with what my friends had, I was suddenly leaps and bounds ahead of them career-wise. I now had two degrees, a full-time teaching job, and a plan to keep my career moving forward. I was able to do all of the things that they had done all those years and more. None of them had careers, just jobs. None of them had long-term plans. None of them were as satisfied with their choices any longer and a few of them even mentioned that they were jealous of my opportunity to attend college.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be fooled. Being a college student is a lot of work and, like me, most students have questioned what they are doing and why they are doing it. However, the rewards certainly outweigh all of the obstacles. I used to hear, \u201cAttending college will make you a well-rounded person\u201d or \u201cIt sets you apart from those that do not attend,\u201d yet it never felt true at the time. Eventually though, you will come to a point where you realize those quotes are true and you will be on your way to earning that degree!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Licenses and Attributions:<\/h3>\n

CC licensed content, Shared previously:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explore the insights on adapting to academic challenges in the essay “Something Was Different” authored by Jacqueline Tiermini, from “Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom,” edited by Thomas Priester<\/a> (CC BY: Attribution).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["jacqueline-tiermini"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[93],"license":[],"class_list":["post-193","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-jacqueline-tiermini"],"part":29,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/193\/revisions\/397"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/29"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/193\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hccfl.edu\/blueprint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}