No member of my family has ever received a college degree and I wanted to break that cycle and encourage the younger members of my family to further their education. I just wanted to do something different because I felt I had something to prove.

 

 

My motivation for succeeding is my family. I am married with four young children and I want to inspire them to receive all the education they can. I want them to understand that education pays off. I also want to make a better life for my family. Receiving my bachelors opens up more possibilities for me to receive a job that will allow me to be financially stable.

 

 

My academic major is Social Work. After I graduate from WKU with my bachelors in Social Work, I plan on obtaining a career in the field of substance abuse. I also plan to go on and get my master in Social Work. I enjoy helping others and making a difference in the lives of others.

 

 

I came from a low-income family where there wasn't much encouragement to succeed. My mother and father were high school dropouts and they were also young parents. As a child I never lived in a stable environment and I was moved around a lot. I struggled to find my place in the world but I always knew one thing; and that was I was going to do well in school and graduate. In my junior year of high school, 1998, I became pregnant and had a baby boy in June. I was still determined to graduate high school at this point and I was thankful that the school provided a daycare for young mothers and fathers. The following year of high school, 1999, I became pregnant again with not only one but two babies. I had twin girls in April and went on to graduate that May. Like I said I was determined to graduate and break the family cycle about the importance of education. I wanted to go to college but since I had young children, I decided to put it off for awhile. Once my children got older I went on to Owensboro Community and Technical College and obtained a degree in Human Services in fall of 2010. The following spring I obtained an Associate in Arts. I started OCTC thinking that I would just get an associate's degree and stop there. But while working on my associates I realized that I needed to go further in my education and get my bachelors as well. That's when I realized that WKU was bringing an extension of their college to Owensboro and I was excited; this would be right in time for me to start my bachelor's degree. With the help of OCTC, I transferred over to WKU and was accepted into the Social Work program. Now here I am, I know my place in the world, and I couldn't be more excited about where I am in my life right now considering where I came from. I am enjoying my education at WKU-O and I feel like a part of the WKU family.