Amy Chaney Wood
A Single Mothers Plea
An Essay
The mind is a terrible thing to waste! I have wanted to go back to school ever since my daughter was born, but money always stood in the way. Now that I am divorced and working every minute of the day to earn a living for my daughter and myself, it is now far more important to continue my education and find a better job that supports both of us.
It is so important to me to get my degree in Health Administration/Management. I have been working in the field for four years now without a degree. I am now being faced with the challenge of finding a new job since my current employer is retiring and has sold his practice. The new physician that has purchased the practice doesn't have the influx of patients or the type of patients that my previous employer had, therefore he will not be able to pay me at the salary I currently earn. I am essentially being laid off.
This appears to be the greatest opportunity for me to go back to school. Especially since all the job openings that are in my filed require a Bachelor's degree or higher. I have the experience, the knowledge and the skills, but I am lacking the required degree to continue working in my field. If I am to continue in my field it is necessary for me to go back to school.
Learning is a lifestyle for me. I have always enjoyed college. My friends and family keep telling me that I would be a professional student if I could afford it. Perhaps they are right. I am the one in the office that likes to learn all the latest technology and new rules and regulations. I love it! It's more like fun to me than actual work. My boss loved that I have such an enthusiasm for learning new things. It came in handy for his practice. He always brought new ideas to me to find information on. He looked to my opinion on whether or not a new thing was a worthy venture for his practice.
My lust for knowledge has paved many great roads for me, but without a degree my road dead-ends. Having a degree would enable me to continue in my field (Medical/Health Management). It would even open new doors for me in the field.
My father died of cancer when I was only 19-years-old. He wanted so badly to see me go to college. He died shortly after my first semester ended. It brought him a great deal of joy knowing that I was in college. He knew how much it meant to me. I think he would be very proud of how far I've come; that I am working hard to continue my education. After he died, money was very short. My mom already had one daughter away at college, and she had to find a way to keep in college too. She had to see to it that there was money to pay for three kids in college.
Now that I am a mom, I want to succeed so my daughter will learn success through hard work and determination by the example that I make. She thinks its really, really cool that mommy wants to go to school just like her. We share the same enthusiasm. She wants for us to do our homework together. I must admit that I would love that too.
Having my degree would greatly benefit me in continuing in my career path of Health Administration/Management. Achieving my goal of getting that degree via online is the only way to go for being a full-time mom first and foremost and a full-time worker. I cant think of a better way for me to go than with an online degree. Being awarded a scholarship to accomplish my goal of continuing my education would be like climbing the highest peak and taking the deepest breath of relief when I got to the top. It would certainly make achieving my goal much easier since single moms do not make very much money without a degree.