Sanna Schweitzer
I would like to share with you some things about my life in hopes that you will understand why my pursuit for higher education is so important to me. I had my first son when I was 15-years-old. I had my second son when I was 17-years-old. I was a single parent until I was 31 years old.
I have worked since I was 16-years-old. I supported my children on my income as a full-time secretary at a small law firm and later a full-time state employee working in the clerical section. After I left them, my old bosses at the law firm were kind enough to give me part-time work whenever they needed someone to cover the office during their vacations, usually a week or two a year. As such, I would take my vacation leave to work there. It wasn't much but it was extra income.
As my children got older, I was finally able to begin taking college classes at the local community college. Because it was still necessary for me to work, I went to school at night or took as many online classes as I could.
Between work, school, children and their extracurricular activities, money and time was always tight. But we were happy. We had food on the table, a roof over our heads and a better life to look forward to. Reaching our individual educational goals, mines for my college degree and my children's for their high school diplomas, was a family effort.
However, even after hearing me lecture their whole lives and seeing the struggles first hand of single parenthood, my older son came home at the age of sixteen and told me that he was going to be a father. There were a few minutes for tears and lectures as I have always taught my children that when you fall, you dust yourself up and get back up. I did not want my son to quit high school to get a job. But I had to consider that there would be another person that needed financial support, so I got a second job at a transition home for mentally ill adults and began training for a third job processing insurance exams at peoples homes.
However, a few months into this overflowing schedule, my son asked me to quit my other jobs, as he needed me at home emotionally. I explained to him that we needed the money. My son countered by telling me that I had always taught them that money was not more important than family.
Many people have asked me why I didn't apply for state assistance (welfare), as I would have surely qualified. Maybe it was my pride that prevented me from doing so. Maybe it was because I was trying to teach my children that you should live with the consequences of the decisions you make in life. Maybe it was a combination of reasons, but I know for certain that my biggest reason is that I wanted my children to grow up learning to always be independent and to work hard.
I became a grandmother when I was 31-years-old. It was probably the most contradictory time in my life. I was both sad and happy. I worried that I had somehow passed my mistakes on to my child. I was in a sort of limbo in my life. I was unsure of how to behave as a 31-year-old grandmother. I was working my rear off trying my best to make ends meet for me and my own children and wasn't sure how I would add a grandchild to the list.
However, I guess everything in life does happen for a reason, as a month after I had my grandson; my high school best friend came home and asked me to marry him. I should have hesitated, after all, we had never even dated, but I didn't. I figured with all of life's twists and turns, I had nothing to lose. As friends, we already loved one another. It has been the best decision I have ever made. My husband had lost his son 3 years before we got married, but got two when he married me. He also happily stepped into the role of a 32-year-old grandfather.
I graduated with my Associate's Degree in Administration of Justice in 2006. With my husbands added income, he told me that I could continue my education as I had dreamed and he would take care of our family even if that meant he would have to take a second job to pay our bills. It is hard for me to make anyone understand how much more I loved him for offering that to me. I have never longed for a lot of money, jewelry, fancy clothes, but I have longed for my degree.
While registering for my courses the following semester, we found out that I was pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and had me bedridden for 5 long months with complications. This was a very difficult time for my husband as the idea of losing another child was almost too much for him to deal with. For the sake of my health and the health of our unborn child, I had to drop all my courses for that semester.
After our daughter was born healthy, I applied to return to college and am now working towards my Liberal Arts degree in order to transfer to a University. I plan to get a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and immediately apply to a Master's Program in Social Work. I currently work in the probation department and see a need for social workers. I would like to be one of those social workers helping people to realize their potential and deter offenders from committing further crime in our community. I believe that sometimes people just need someone to believe in them in order to reach their potential.
I know that I disappointed a lot of people when I became a teenage mother. I know that little was expected of me to have a successful life. But that has also pushed me to prove otherwise. My children and grandchild, my unexpected blessings, have all given me a reason to strive for excellence. They give me a reason to want to be a better person.
I have maintained a 3.93 GPA throughout my college career. This has been possible with the introduction of online classes as it has given me an opportunity to attend class on my own time and not on a structured schedule. Taking online classes has helped me remain a hands-on parent/grandparent while pursuing my education.
My older son started college this semester and my younger son will graduate from high school this school year. For a mother, who has strongly lectured my children on the importance of education, these are proud moments for me.
Getting my college degree would mean more than a rewarding career and a more stable income, it would mean that the hard work my children and I have put in these past few years have been worthwhile. I can be a proud example and show my children and my grandchild my diploma and say, see, this is what you helped me achieve. And most importantly, it will enable me to give my children, what most parents want to give them, a foundation for which they can feel secure enough to build their own dreams and realize that it is attainable no matter how many obstacles they face. That degree will be the trophy on our mantel, showcasing our prize for the many years of hard work it took to get to the finish line.
I hope you will consider me for your scholarship because I am a determined and hardworking student. Additionally, I hope that you will consider me for your scholarship because you believe that I have the potential to earn my degree and use it for the betterment of not only my life, and my families life but for my community as a whole.
I thank you kindly for your time and consideration.