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I decided
to try Teacher Education and teach art. I live in Bowling Green,
Kentucky, and had gone to WKU before. I decided to try face-to-face
classes as an older student. I was 49.
While
I was at Western, I decided to re-start the Western Kentucky
University Non-Traditional Student Group. It was a big job,
but I had some good friends to help me. I made some good friends
there.
Some of what I learned:
I had
so much to learn about being a non-traditional student. I was
not sure how I would ever get everything done.
I wondered
if I were taking the right classes, or even if I should be back
in school. Was I picking the right area to pursue? Should I
have gone into another field?
It was scary...
I was
filled with doubt. As I muddled through my classes, I spent
a lot of time motivating myself and making mistakes. I also
spent a lot of time finding information that I needed as a non-traditional
student.
Adding: But, at the same time, it was fun and exciting to learn and grow.
Now
I have learned a lot and can share it with other non-traditional
students. I am more organized now, that's for sure. I want to
share what I learned with other non-traditional students.
Connecting with others...
One
thing I learned about is how important it is to connect to other
students and share knowledge and experience.
For
instance, I found that study groups helped me so much when I
was going to class. I could study with the study groups before
a test, for instance, and my grades were a lot better than they
would have been without the group.
What other people know
I also
found out that the people at college offices don't always know
everything about each field. It pays to do research and ask
the hard questions of professors and teachers.
Some
questions that are important: What loans are best? What professors
really help you? I like the Profeval site a lot, and there are some other good links on the links page here on the site.
For
good scholarships, go to the Scholarships
Link page.
Asking questions
I started
to ask questions, even though as a shy person, they were hard
to ask. After I asked the first questions, the next ones became
much easier. I asked the professors what we needed to know for
the tests and I asked my classmates if they wanted to be in
a study group with me.
My
professors were glad when their students asked questions, and
they were glad to answer. My classmates sometimes did not have
time for a study group, but most of the time they were glad
that somebody had the idea.
We
met after school, or sometimes before class. We asked each other
questions, and we got a much better idea of what might be on
tests or quizzes. I am sure that my grade went up at least one
grade point for every study group.
Sometimes
a person just has to ask - even if he or she feels stupid asking,
because the more you know about things, the better choices you
are going to make.
Connections
I started a Nontraditional Student group there at college. It was fun and also a learning experience. There is more to having an official group than I thought! But I think it helped many cope with the stress of being back at school.
It
was also great to be able to talk about non-traditional issues with
other students.
Now, My hope is to make this site a connection point
for people that want to discuss nontraditional issues and make
connections here.
If you didn't check these out from my the About Me Page, I have some other sites for Nontrads to check out.
I have a Facebook page for nontraditional students, Twitter on the Twitter Nontrads page, and have a Nontraditional student blog too. Come and visit - - we would love to have you there.
Please
help me with your ideas, because I would love to have them.
Write me and let me know what would be good on this site. And
thanks!
Click
on My
"About Me" Page to learn more.
My contact information:
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