There’s a transition going on in my household this week. My youngest child is getting ready to begin the next chapter in his life: post-secondary education. I can’t wait for him to become the person he is supposed to be. This child has been a joy to me and his father. He has also been a challenge. And I have had to hold my tongue when it comes to this one. He is the baby, after all.
All of my children knew that they were going to college. They also knew that they had to decide what they would do before they entered into one class in college. I was given the opportunity to go to college but never had an idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. So after 4 years of college I found a job doing what I was good at: typing. It wasn’t until I was 50 that I discovered that I was a writer and should have been doing that all these years. I wasn’t going to allow my children to go through that.
For three years in high school, my oldest, Jay, was going to be a professional soccer player. That was fine. All we had to do was get him on a college team and make sure the pros paid attention to him. Imagine my amazement when he announced in his senior year of high school that he was going to be a history teacher and a soccer coach. You could have knocked me over with a feather. When he chose to go away to Western Kentucky University I think I was as excited as he was. He finished school in 4 years and got a job teaching and coaching. He is now working on his second master’s degree.
When Carilynn made plans to attend the University of Kentucky, we all knew that it was to become a veterinarian. She has always loved animals and we knew she was smart enough. We didn’t know that Organic Chemistry was going to beat her butt but she adapted and ended up getting her degree in Animal Science and Public Policy and Leadership. When she did internships in Washington, DC, she evolved into a career as a lobbyist. So, with two degrees she has secured her future advocating for Ag animals.
Katie was a tough one. She wanted to follow her sister in agriculture but she also wanted to follow her brother in education. We visited three schools numerous times but she always knew that she was going to go to UK. She wanted to see what everybody else had to offer. I truly believe she will be one of the best Ag educators to come out of UK. Even though I know her love will always be teaching I do think that as she continues her education she may be interested in teaching teachers. I keep thinking she’ll move back home and teach over at Murray State University once she has her doctorate.
And then there was John. John who has hated school since he first stepped in. This boy, who would work twice as hard to not do the work, was the last to go through this process. What do you do with a boy like John? One of my favorite stories to tell on him was one year in grade school when he was out at Fancy Farm, we got a call from the principal to come out and talk with her about John. He had forgotten to bring a note home, telling us he wasn’t doing his homework, so he signed his daddy’s name. He was obviously caught. When the principal showed it to us I wanted to laugh out loud because it wasn’t even a good attempt at his daddy’s signature. I told him that he had made a huge mistake. He said he knew Mom, and he was so sorry, and it would never happen again. I told him that the next time he should put more “m’s” in his daddy’s name because his daddy put a lot of “m’s” in his name. I don’t think he ever did his homework consistently but we didn’t get called to the principal’s office.
John did take skills classes though. For two years in high school he took welding and another year he took machining. He did it well and he liked it a lot. He started talking about being a welder, making his living with his hands.
I looked for programs where he could get his bachelors in welding. I looked at several programs but most were in the Arts. I do believe that John is an artist with his work but that wasn’t the type of program he was looking for. I figured that we would end up looking at the community college and see what kind of programs they had.
John came in from school one day and said he wanted to go to this program for welding down in Nashville. He told me it was a 6 month program but they would find him a job when he graduated and he would have his certifications. Certifications are a big deal in welding. Most companies don’t care if you have a degree but they do care if you’re certified. And they care if you can weld. I asked him about the school and my “mom radar” kicked into high gear.
This school was a “for-profit” school. I immediately said no. He was telling me how great it was and I kept saying no. But then I thought, maybe this needs to be his decision. We went to all kinds of meetings with the admissions rep. We toured the school. We didn’t get to talk to the instructor but we heard of all the companies who were waiting on the welding classes to graduate. There wouldn’t be a problem with him finding a job.
I used to work for a “for-profit” school. We taught people how to be dental assistants and medical assistants and such. We found them jobs. We took their money. And most of them didn’t have the money to take. No problem. We would take their financial aid and leave them with a huge debt. It was true, we could find them a job. But they wouldn’t be making enough money to pay those student loans. Of course, welding was different. But I learned this, if a kid was a good job prospect, he wasn’t going to have a problem getting a job. I know that John won’t have a problem finding a job at all. So I didn’t feel we needed their expertise with that.
When it was all said and done John said no to the school in Nashville and we looked into the community college and their welding program. Come to find out, their program was for 9 months and would get him ready for those certifications. And John was eligible for a program where he works 3 Days a week at a local manufacturing plant and goes to school 2 Days a week. He gets paid while he goes to school and that company will pay his tuition that financial aid doesn’t pay. He’ll have an associates degree when he finishes in 18 months and 18 months experience in manufacturing.
He’ll probably make more money than all my other 3 kids put together.
Good luck John! Go get ’em!
