Dana Ray
After being self employed for the past ten years, I am eager to pursue a new direction in the field of Administration of Justice.
I have raised two sons who are now ready to go off to college themselves, and until such time that they had both completed High School, I made a personal decision not to pursue my own desires. Simply put, I did not want a full time career to get in the way of anything that they were involved in at school.
The fact that I have been self-employed, certainly afforded me the ability to partake in every event, sports or otherwise that my children have been a part of. Just being able to have that freedom of "availability" to them when they needed it most, made it all worth the wait.
Although I enjoyed those freedoms when I needed them, I am eager, ready and willing to enter the workforce on a full-time basis, in a field that is sure to be rewarding and challenging at best. I have always considered a career in the areas of law and criminal justice, however just did not see it fitting in our life style while raising our sons.
My husband and I have been married for 22 years, and spent the first 16 of those years as a Military family in the United States Marine Corp, traveling to many different locations/duty stations to include Japan. My husband has since retired after spending 21 years as a Military family.
Each duty station provided limited opportunity for spouses in the way of education opportunities; however I did take various courses along the way. Not having a course of direction during that time, I have approximately 12 units of courses that most likely will not count towards any one specific degree.
Being a mother was more important to me than obtaining a degree, so as I stated earlier, I made the decision to work independently so that I could be there when I was needed. Times are certainly different now, and with the endless time on my hands I am ready to go back to school!
Having recently taken a 40 hour course in Domestic Violence training, so that I can volunteer at our local shelter for women and children, I am more convinced now than ever that the field of Administratioin of Justice/ Criminal Justice is most certainly the path in which I will take for my next career. I would welcome the opportunity to be able to assist these women and their children in a more constructive life style choice than the one so many choose. As difficult as some of these situations can be, it takes strong individuals with tremendous compassion and strength to show the victims (male or female) out of a potentially life threatening situation. The children caught up in these domestic violence battles are often distraught beyond measure and ultimately grow up to be abusers them selves. If they are taught that this is not acceptable, and are further instructed on how not to repeat this often repeated lifestyle choice, then society at large will be better off.
These families need to know that someone cares, and to be the caseworker for such circumstances would be an incredible way to give hope in what might seem hopeless.
Finances permitting I would have enrolled in the local community college. However after a grueling past three years in the Real Estate Market, (I was a Real Estate agent) funds are limited and reserved for necessities only. Although my husband is now a civil service employee following his retirement and also receives a pension times are still tough and money is tight. Our youngest son is now ready to head of to the local community college simply because we have no funds to send him elsewhere, so any ideas I had about returning to school will be put off again, until such time we get him up and running.
If the opportunity was afforded to me, I would be extremely honored to be able to go back to school and obtain the degree that I had always hoped for. If there is one single regret that my husband and I share, it is the fact that neither one of us ever finished college, which is something we both want now. To try and convince our boys the importance of a degree without having obtained one ourselves has been challenging at best.
Perhaps we can all obtain a degree together, what a blessing that would be! I look forward to hearing from you regarding the possibility of being selected as a candidate for a full-tuition scholarship. I hope that you find my essay favorable and worthy of selection. If not, I thank you for the opportunity to enter, and I truly wish the best for all the ones who do get chosen.
Respectfully,
Dana M. Ray