Kathryn in Worcester, MA

My path as an undergraduate student is finally finished! I made it to the class of 2023 officially! All of my school years, my passion for the subject of English as a craft and career was the determination that overpowered my doubts about advanced adult education. Even though college was always an option, none of my immediate family members went. That made me contemplate career goals generally though I am glad I took that chance. Being raised by a parent that went straight to work and growing up with a twin brother who has ASD that would not be granted the opportunity to exceed that level of opportunity, I was the only one who had that chance to make that happen. With a lot of idolization of teachers, I had throughout my life and want to make a credible change to the barriers first-generation students face I decided to give it a try and attended community college with indecisive goals of a major in English or Psychology. I thought that I would solely go for Psychology though I am glad I declared English as my major. I ended up with an associate’s degree and declared English at a state university. Throughout my undergraduate experience, these nontraditional college opportunities, fortunately, shed a light on instructors that shared similar resilience. There is more than one I could say I was inspired by and I am grateful I took the risk to never give up. Now that I am a graduate, I plan to enter the real world and work with clients or students that often go overlooked such as neurodiverse populations. My first career that achieved this goal was as a Behavioral Technician. I plan to work with this population of folks for some time and then possibly pursue the goal of being an English teacher. I have my whole life ahead of me and I tell this story because so many folks are told there has to be a timeline though contrary to me there was never such a thing.