I’ve normally chosen to blog about current events and social issues on my personal blog. But as we’re coming down to the last 4 or 5 weeks I’ve decided to reflect on something I’ve noticed over the semester. Not necessarily things about my classes. Of course ... the other students are really creative and very interesting. The teachers are engaging, very creative, and push us extremely hard to develop great ideas. It’s a truly fascinating part of my life and I’m learning so many new ideas about society, culture, media and technology.
I was at Hannaford yesterday and ran into Kristen, the mother of one of my son’s friends. I’ve known her over 12 years from being a youth baseball coach. We’ve spent our springs, summers, and falls together at the ball field along with dozens of other families. In fact, Hannaford seems to be the place where I can catch up with what’s going on in my neighbors’ lives. When you’ve coached well over a hundred kids over the years you get to know a lot of families in the community, and sometimes it takes over an hour to get a few items and make it past the cash registers.
When I told Kristen I’ve gone back to school to get my Master’s Degree, she had the same reaction that I’ve come to expect from pretty much everybody. They kind of pull back a little and exclaim, “WOW! That’s amazing. That’s a really big deal!” I’m assuming they don’t mean, “It’s amazing he’s able to get accepted into a Master’s Program.” Part of their reaction is my age and the point I’m at in my life. Part of it is the example they say I’m setting for my children. And part of their reaction is the fact that they know what a big change this is for me and my family.
When I started planning to go back to school, I wasn’t thinking about this “amazing” thing I was going to do. I didn’t necessarily think what I was doing was that big of a deal. Yes, I was being affected pretty hard by a sagging economy and the stagnation of the print industry. But the biggest reason for going back to school was that I needed something new ... something more. I needed change ... and a new challenge. Going for my Master’s just seemed like the right thing to do.
As we’re coming down to the last weeks of semester one, it’s been very challenging and humbling at the same time. I’ve started to reflect on my experiences since last August and plan for the future, both near and far. I’ve reviewed some of the projects we’ve completed, concepts we’ve studied, and relived moments of terror trying to complete projects on time ... it’s been very rewarding. VERY rewarding. Looking forward at my final semester projects, and projecting ahead to next semester’s studies, it’s finally setting in that what I’m doing is “a really big deal!”
