Even though I'm 40-something, with a career, sometimes I still wonder what I want to be when I grow up! It's been a long time since I took any college classes, but one of my long-term goals is to eventually go back to school and get a degree.

Some of my goals took me years to reach. While cleaning and organizing, I found a twenty-year-old notebook. One of the things I wrote in that notebook was a list of goals that I had set for myself. I don't need to keep that list anymore, I crossed the last item off of it almost ten years ago. Even though I had misplaced my list, I had kept a copy in my mind. It wasn't an earth shattering list, but at the time I wrote it, I was in my early twenties, with a ninth grade education, a G.E.D., and I had just taken my first C.L.E.P. test and passed it. If you are not familiar with the C.L.E.P., it is a series of five tests that equate to the first year of college. Most colleges will give you course credits for taking them if you score high enough. I had ventured out into the somewhat scary world of higher education and quickly became disillusioned with the whole process. My first actual college class was a disaster, not only was the teacher unfamiliar with the subject he was supposed to be teaching, he frequently smelled like he had been drinking, and spent most of his time in class ranting about Karl Marx. I kept trying, but being put into the hospital for a two-week stay made it impossible for me to keep up with my studies. I ended up dropping the class after all.

It would be another four years before I tried to take a college class. Being able to finally take and successfully pass a college class did wonders for my self confidence. I tried to take a class every semester. At the time I was a single mom with a baby boy, and working full time, so one class was about all I could handle. One of the biggest challenges on my twenty year old list was to take all five of the C.L.E.P. tests, it was an inexpensive and quick way to get some college credits. By the time I took the very last one, not only was it almost ten years later, but I really wouldn't get any credit for it, since I already had enough English and Writing classes, but I took the test anyway. Although taking that last test didn't serve any real purpose, to me it was important. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

--- © Renee