Thursday was a special day for me.
I graduated from college...again...for the second time.
The first time around I went to school, I went into the Early Childhood program to be a preschool teacher. Once I had my first job, I realized it wasn't for me. It was fun, but just not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I went back to school when I moved to Texas. It didn't last long. They never did tell me if any of my transcripts were ever going to transfer, and I really didn't like my professor. I felt like he was trying to set the whole class up to fail. I just felt like something wasn't right and that school wasn't for me. Once N & I moved to West Virginia, I started looking for schools.
About five years before, I actually went through a certification program for phlebotomy. I really enjoyed drawing blood in hospitals & labs. It was good enough for me at the time. In one of the labs I worked in, I made a friend with one of the laboratory technicians named Misty. She was the sweetest person ever. She would take the time to show me different cells, and talk to me about all the things she did in the lab. She encouraged me to go back to school for it, but I never thought I was smart enough to do it. So when N & I found a house and moved across the border to Pennsylvania, I decided to find a school in PA that had a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) program. I decided on Laurel Business Institute. They had an 18 month Associates degree program. Awesome! Better than a regular college because I could graduate six month earlier than I would a regular college!!! I was sooo nervous on my first day! I really struggled at first, because I didn't know if I could really do it! It was hard, and that is not an understatement!!!
Mrs. B, Me & Mrs.G
I had some wonderful instructors along the way! These ladies truly care about each & every one of their students!
Mrs.G & Me
Mrs. G was my main instructor...I had her for the majority of my classes. I was so scared at first. She was strict, but that was for the best. None of us wanted to disappoint her. We all had so much respect for her. This woman believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. Because of the way she taught, I felt like we got a way better education than any other school I could have gone to. I felt like we were very prepared once we hit internship. We all put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into these classes...no pun intended! Not only did we work super hard on the classwork, but we had to take each other's blood to practice certain tests...and let me tell you, nothing makes you sweat more than taking your instructor's and classmates' blood! I will be honest, this program really takes dedication. It is hard because we had multiple tests weekly. You have two years worth of information crammed into 18 months...I won't lie, there were days I just felt so overwhelmed I cried! Overall, my class became super close. Not only did we spend every single day together, but all of us were overcoming personal obstacals along the way.
Some of the lovely ladies I got the chance to know, and learn with...great group of girls!
Marisa & I
I honestly don't know what I would have done without M. She was my best friend throughout the whole process! When I was having problems understanding things, this was my girl! She was always there for me...And she was our Valedictorian!!!
Me Carly & Marisa
Brownie, Casey Jo & Me
I had such a great family supporting me along the way...especially my sister Casey Jo. Casey helped me study for so many tests!!! It really sucked that she couldn't be there in person to see it. However, my friend Brownie came up and face timed my sister so she could watch the whole thing! So in a way, she was still there.
My Daddy & I
I was so lucky to have my family be able to come up and watch me walk across the stage. I was worried about them all coming up for it, because it had been snowing and it was a 3 hour drive from my hometown.
Me with my Grandparents
Hubs & Me
I still can't believe I did it! This program was not easy by any means! You couldn't take your time or retake any tests. It was very rushed, and lots of information was crammed in such a short amount of time. I came from having no confidence in myself to graduating with high honors! I was even nominated for student of the month and said the invocation at the graduation!
This is my now my profession.
This has made me wonder about all the other lovely bloggers...What do you do?
What does the person behind the blog do for a living?
Please comment below on what your profession is...
I think this will be very interesting!
