“It’s difficult for me to put into words the full impact that being the recipient of a scholarship to USM has had on my life. When I dropped out of college 30 years ago, I never intended the lapse to be permanent. I told myself I was just taking a year off, and that I would go back once I’d had some time to experience “the real world.” But one year turned into two, and two turned into five, and before I knew it, I was married, and then I became a mom, and soon the idea of completing my education seemed about as practical as taking a trip to the moon.
“In many ways, my life has been incredibly blessed. I have had professional success as a published author and business owner. And I have a wonderful husband and an amazing daughter. But despite these accomplishments, I always felt like a failure on some level because of my lack of a college degree. Still, I was too caught up in the trajectory of my life to do anything about it.
“Then, seven years ago, my world was upended when my husband was diagnosed with a rare, debilitating, and ultimately incurable form of blood and bone cancer called multiple myeloma. Realizing that he would never be able to work again, we made the agonizing decision to sell our business. Eventually I returned to work as a restaurant server, a job that I enjoy and that enables me to support our family while being my husband’s primary caretaker. But when the Coronavirus pandemic hit, and my work hours were suddenly reduced, I started to seriously consider going back to school for the first time in years. Finally, in the fall of 2020, I enrolled at SMCC.
“My initial plan was just to finish the credits I needed for my associate degree. But being back in school gave me a sense of purpose and accomplishment that I hadn’t felt in years and helped me to deal with the hopelessness and isolation of caring for someone with a terminal illness. After graduating from SMCC, I desperately wanted to keep going. But my financial situation was a significant challenge. With my daughter now in college herself, paying for my education was not a luxury I could afford. And most of the traditional grant options I looked at were not available for part time students. Then, one day, as I was clicking through the USM website, I learned about the Osher scholarships for returning students. There is no question in my mind that, if not for this scholarship, I never would have been able to enroll at USM.
“Walking into a classroom at the age of 50 was one of the most terrifying things I have done in my life. Due to the pandemic, my classes at SMCC had all been remote. But when I started at USM in the fall of 2022, in-person classes had just resumed. For the first few weeks, I barely raised my hand. But with the encouragement of my professors and fellow students, I slowly began to find my voice and my self-confidence. While I had initially enrolled in the Liberal Studies program, I quickly realized that my real passion was for philosophy and changed my major to reflect this fact. The first time I was an undergraduate was at an ivy league university. In many ways, my experience at USM has far outshone this experience. My instructors have been truly exceptional. And my fellow students constantly surprise me with their wisdom and compassion. The diversity of the student body allows for a range of perspectives that makes for exciting and elucidating classroom discussion.
“As I finish up my last semester at USM I sometimes have to pinch myself in order to confirm that I am not dreaming. A college degree has seemed so unattainable to me for so long that the fact that I am about to graduate doesn’t feel real. I still don’t know exactly what I will do once I’m done. I would love to help others on their educational journeys and am currently considering graduate school and employment options that would allow me to do this, either as an educator or facilitator. For the moment, much of my focus is on my husband. There is no cure for the type of cancer he has. The disease can be kept in check for a while with treatment, but the average life expectancy for someone with myeloma ranges from 2-5 years. In this sense, my husband has already beaten the odds, but over the past year his disease has started to progress once again.
“The reality is that at some point soon I will have to create a life without him. But thanks to my new degree, and the generous financial support that made it possible, I am ready to do so.”