I have been a student here at Michigan Tech University for five years and a semester. This is my last semester and I graduate in two weeks. I am a nontraditional student who came back to school after being in the working world for 13 years. I was born and raised in a small mining town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where jobs are scarce and hopes for a college education were also scarce. I came from a large family of 5 brothers and sisters. My family did not have much money for anything and college was not an option for me when I was younger. I can’t remember any time when college was mentioned to me. High school graduation was expected and then all I was taught to think about was needing to get a job. I completed high school a few miles from my home town and then enlisted in the United States Navy to start my naval career. I knew that if I was going to be any kind of success, I would have to join the military to learn a trade. I thought that the only way to succeed in life was to leave the area.

I left the area and served my country. I was introduced to many countries and cultures. I am a veteran of a foreign war (Persian gulf). After my enlistment, I decided to leave the military and do something else for a while. I worked as a welder and sheet metal worker. I had always wanted to go to college and now once I had been out in the world I had became aware of how important a college education was. If I wanted a good rewarding job that I actually enjoyed , I would need to attend college. To me this was just common sense – anyone who is a success goes to college. This train of thought stayed with me for about ten more years when I finally reached a point in my life where either I was going to go to college and be a biologist or quit thinking about it and move on in my current profession.

I was a journeyman tradesman and made a comfortable living, but I did not want to do this for the next 35 years. I always wanted to be a biologist and work with animals or fish and be outside in nature. I saw the college degree as a recipe for success. I couldn’t get any further without that diploma.