perspective from the perpetual student

My name is Marta Smith and I am a student at Granite State College. I work at the Fiske Free Library in Claremont, NH. I started working there in spring of 1988. At that time I didn't have any degree at all. My children were young and I had only recently returned to work after taking 10 years off to be a stay at home mom. We had just bought a new home and I needed to go back to work.

After working at the library for a few months my supervisor recommended that I take the Library Techniques classes at College for Lifelong Learning (the former name of Granite State College) It took me a few years working around my full time job and a husband and four sons. Luckily I was able to take some of the classes during my work day.

After I received my Library Techniques Certificate I took a break as the demands of my job and family took over. I did take a few computer classes through the years to improve skills needed for work, but that's all.

Fast forward several years to the day my youngest son graduated high school and I began to realize how much time I now had to concentrate on what I would do with the rest of my life. I began to look at how many classes I needed for my Associates Degree and it wasn't that many, so I went to the local Granite State office and talked to the advisor who helped me figure out where to  begin. It didn't take very long even taking only 1 or 2 classes a semester to reach my goal. But, while I was elated to finally have my degree, I was also sad at the idea of leaving the college, once again my advisor was very helpful in urging me to go for my Bachelors. The advisor even helped me create a self design that would give me a degree in the field of my choice-Literature and Creative Writing.
 
I am now only one semester away from my Bachelor's Degree and I am still not sure I am ready to leave. I think I may have to rethink graduating and go for another degree. I don't plan on leaving my job, which I love, so I don't have time to pursue my Master's, and I don't want to change schools. Granite State fits my needs so well. I can take all of my classes at night, on the weekend or even online; and the atmosphere at Granite State College is amazing, the professors are supportive and helpful and the students I have met have become good friends. All of them have such unique stories and backgrounds, and the age range makes for a great blend of perspectives in class.
I can't say  enough about the positive experiences I have enjoyed at Granite State College over the last 20 plus years-it's been amazing!