Chandreyee: "One who is as beautiful and brilliant as the moon on a full moon night."

I did it! Class of 2017! There were countless sleep deprived days driven underhandedly by the long midnight hours of papers, projects, internships, and paperwork. There were truly times I felt like throwing in the towel. Countless tears shed; some good, some bad. Half way into my degree, I switched from online courses to ground campus and the only thing I can do is look back on that first day of class and laugh hysterically. (I think we all did [my classmates and I] at graduation.) Two internships totaling 300 hours which felt unbearable at the time. Now they were just a comical blip along that road. Nonetheless, the three of us, originally four of us, crossed that finish line, tires squealing. . Myself, Angelique, and Arianne. We really did it. Angelique proudly finished with honors and was one of two student speakers in our graduation ceremony. Arianne is considering going back to school for her Masters degree. I have already, and perhaps insanely, started that course. Reveling in this moment, though, my only thought is, "Hey Dad, I did it! 3.62!" Of course, my dad would just laugh and tell me "C's get degrees." But I did it and I did it in memory of him. This one's for you, Dad. 
But my journey isn't over just yet. Time to get that master's degree. 

Goals:

• 3.5 GPA
• Ask for help when needed
• Make meaningful relationships
• Build a network
• Explore the relative community
• Get involved at the systems level without abandoning micro & mezzo.
• Get acquainted with local legislature
• Influence one policy change

Bear with me, I am treating this like a blog because I really like the idea of going back and seeing what I said however long ago it may have been. That being said, it's now Summer Semester of 2014 and I am literally days away from completing my last class at Salt Lake Community College and I couldn't be more thrilled!! After a ridiculous amount of years, post this semester, I will have in my hands my Associate of Psychology degree. Of course, it doesn't end there, but I can't express my excitement!!! So there you have it. Whenever I come back and stumble on this page in however many years, I may even laugh at myself. :)
-- 8/6/2014

It's now 2013. I have to say that I must be either one of the nuttiest persons I know of or I am one of the most dedicated. I'm still working towards my associates degree right now and it's so close I can almost taste it. 

I have finally decided what I want to do. I want to be a counselor for teenagers who are in state's custody. I was one of those teenagers a while back and those are the same group of people that I want to be able to be there for and help. While I was in that situation, only a handful of people out of the dozens of different people that handled my case were actually noteworthy and those are ones that I still stay in contact with today. I want to be like them. I want to be able to make a difference, even if it's years later and the kids go "Oh wow". This is what I feel called to do and I can't wait to get there. 

 Well, I've been in college since 2007 and am obviously still working on getting through it. I have a five year old son from my previous marriage and am re-married to someone who has made a world of difference in my life. I told one of my friends once that he saved me from myself and I still stand true to that statement.

I got into school because I wanted to pursue a career much greater than what I have been in thus far. In honesty, I still don't know what my ultimate goal is or what  I truly want to be when it has all been said and done. I just know that I want to be in something in which I can help people who are in some kind of genuine need.

I don't generally trust people, as we are all flawed. I come across as ornery and abrasive. However, being a Cancer, once you break past my tough outer shell, I'm not as harsh, and am in fact, more of a soft person than I would like to admit. What ever I may be feeling, I do so with passion. I am very strong willed and especially bull headed. Although some people percieve that as a problem, it has gotten me through quite a bit.

In the future, I hope that I will be able to attain some kind of satisfying career and actually learn something from these classes that I seem to endlessly take. I want to truly learn, but I find it challenging to actually feel the need to engage when I don't feel challenged. I don't like working just for a grade. I like learning to actually learn. (2008)