Tracy Shepherd
I am a 40-year-old single mother of two astonishing, intelligent human beings. As a single working mother who never took the opportunity to advance to a higher level of education, I have stressed the importance of education to my children their entire lives. They have worked hard to achieve an elevated level of success and my daughter was recently rewarded for her hard work with a full scholarship to college where she will attend this fall. Without this opportunity it would be implausible that she would be able to attend at all because of our family situation.
An educational opportunity like the scholarship program you are offering is paramount to working single mothers in my opinion, giving some of us an opportunity to improve ourselves and our situations. I believe it is also an opportunity to give our children a solid basis for grasping the importance of education through setting an example.
I remember in my childhood my family was extremely impoverished after my father left our family, and my mother had no education or work experience at the time. She worked hard at what she knew to provide us with a home, but it was arduous and at times there was not even enough food to go around. My mother would periodically go without eating for days just so she could feed her children.
Eventually, she applied for a scholarship opportunity through the state workforce program and was able to attend college to receive her associate's degree in accounting. I remember many times she couldnt even afford day care to attend her classes and I, being the youngest of 3, was not yet attending school. There were periods during her college years that she literally had to haul me to her classes with her. Eventually she received her degree and was able to secure a regular job. Over the years she advanced her career, bought us a house, a car, and improved our quality of life immensely. I was able to see first hand how an education can help a family to thrive and grow through the opportunity it provided to an individual who is motivated to put that education to work for them.
My entire life I have wanted to relive the opportunity to get a higher education. I married right out of high school and never took that opportunity when it was at hand. Now as a single parent, years later, I would love the opportunity once again to make a difference in my familys life through education. Having this scholarship opportunity would provide my family the opportunity to thrive once and for all in an economy where it is so difficult for single parent families without strong educational backgrounds to make a living. So many of us are working so hard just to make it to the end of the month, or working two jobs to make ends meet. I would also love to have the opportunity to show my children first hand how an education can improve your quality of life as my mother did for me.
I am currently employed full-time with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I work as a contracted secretary for a temporary agency. Although it is a menial job which provides minimal pay and no benefits, it is a great organization with so many opportunities for a degreed worker. Having seen many job openings I could have qualified for to advance my career had I qualified with education; my goal is to advance my career in this organization. I have not been in a position to afford continuing education up to this point and this scholarship would mean the world to me at this time in my life. If awarded, it would afford my family such luxuries that we havent had, such as a more stable living, health insurance, a retirement plan, a college savings plan that could help my son to attend college in 4 years when he is ready, or possibly even extra money so we could enjoy a family vacation on occasion.
I am sure there will be younger applicants for this scholarship whom over the course of their lifetime this opportunity may or may not make a bigger impact for them. Unfortunately, we can never see into the future and know when we will reach a point in our lives when starting over will not be a choice, but a requirement. At 40 years old I am willing to work hard to start over and make a difference in the lives of those I personally affect. I am a hard worker, I am goal oriented, and have I have faith in my ability to improve and thrive, even in the tough economy we face today. I also have adamancy, which I feel is my strongest quality.
I foresee that my biggest challenges will be that I have not been in the education system for a number of years so I will have to update my knowledge. I will also have time constraints from my current job and activities. I believe that I can overcome these challenges and that because of my adamancy, as well as maturity, I will work harder to overcome these challenges and earn my degree as I have the ability to face adversity without giving in to it.
I have chosen a course in civil engineering as I find that it fits well into my current job situation and many positions are currently needed in this field. Women are expanding rampantly in this area and I find it of great interest to me. I also like the versatility of this degree in that it would afford me a more diverse opportunity for advancement within my current organization, as well at market wide.
The availability of online learning is indispensible in the harried times we face each day and this provides a perfect opportunity for those of us who are already working full time jobs, have children, and strive to be a valuable part of the community. I currently volunteer for a local little league organization and for the Earth Team in our area, in addition to my full time job and the time that I devote to my children. I feel this would be a perfect medium for my education as I can make it fit more easily into my schedule.
I feel that no matter where these scholarships are awarded they will provide a great opportunity for many women to improve their lives. I am pleased that our education system recognizes the need for improvement in this unique area of our society and that learning institutions are willing to unite to lend such needed educational support to the women of our communities.