An Imposed Requirement becomes a Personal Goal
"The situation at work prompted my decision to return to school," says Barbara Farlow Wilkerson, a UNCG senior in Community Health Education, "but now finishing my degree is a personal goal, as well."
Barbara has had a 28-year career in dental hygiene, first in private practice and currently as a part-time instructor in GTCC's Dental Hygiene program. A recent accreditation review team recommended that all GTCC dental hygiene faculty have four-year degrees. For Barbara and her colleague Michelle Martin, this meant more schooling.
Fortunately, UNCG offers a way to apply credits from a technical degree (AAS in Dental Hygiene) toward a four-year degree, though most are not otherwise transferable. 2+ agreements between UNCG's Department of Public Health and North Carolina's community colleges grant 60 hours of college credit to holders of AAS degrees in participating fields. Barbara started classes at UNCG in 1998 as a junior.
Since then, her life has been a balancing act. She has continued her part-time teaching at GTCC, taken 6 to 9 hours each semester at UNCG, and also managed to spend time with her husband John and her twelve-year-old son, Jesse. 
Barbara has enjoyed both her professional courses and her liberal arts requirements. The Community Health courses "teach you to look at communities from a broad perspective," she notes. "You become aware that before you can make changes in a community, you must know the interactions of all the groups in the community" and "rely on proven scientific theory as the basis for positive changes. Research can show you what will and won't work." She now understands the theoretical and empirical foundations for the work she has been doing throughout her career.
She also values her core requirements for opening new areas of interest and expanding her knowledge. "When I choose literature, history, and dance appreciation, I take classes I'm interested in," she says. "They are things I want to do for me." She sees connections between classroom information and her everyday life, and finds the general classes reinforce her professional courses. As an example, she cites an American literature course where reading writers of diverse backgrounds has expanded her cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Her enthusiasm for her work is reflected in her outstanding academic record. She has completed 48 hours of work with a perfect A average and earned the Department of Public Health's "Outstanding Senior" award. "I feel I should give my best effort to meet my responsibility to myself and to the instructor who's teaching us," Barbara says. "I think it's disrespectful not to be prepared for class."
Always being prepared is not always easy. Barbara has worked out several specific strategies to help her maintain her academic, professional, and psychological balance. She tries to arrange blocks of time in her weekly schedule, keeping at least two half-days or one full day free for study. She plans her part-time academic load to spread one year's college work over two years. The Public Health Education faculty have helped her choose the right sequence of courses and encouraged her to make wise decisions about how much she can reasonably expect of herself.
Another sanity-saving strategy for Barbara has been to take summers off to spend time with her family and to "reinvigorate" herself. And she recognizes the need "to find interests [outside of school and work] that give you pleasure." "I didn't do that well my first semester; I had to learn to do that." In recent months she has found a refuge in making the decisions required to build a new house--one more activity in the already complicated balancing act.
Even with careful planning, it is a challenge to juggle personal, professional and academic responsibilities. "Sometimes I do it well, sometimes it's overwhelming," Barbara admits. "I'm accustomed to taking a textbook with me," she says. "I have a book at lunch--IF I stop for lunch." And she relies on a threefold support system.
First, she relies on her friend Michelle, who is going through the adult-student experience at the same time, for crucial psychological support. "You can talk to other people about what you're going through, but they don't really grasp it," Barbara says. "[Michelle and I] keep each other motivated; if either of us is in trouble, the other will pull her along."
Next she cites her family's support and understanding. Her husband and mother have met Jesse's needs when she is not available and helped her evade the burden of guilt for time away from the family. It also helps that Jesse realizes his mother will have more time with him when she finishes her program, in December 2002.
Finally, Barbara credits the full-time faculty at GTCC for their support and flexibility with her schedule; they even consult with UNCG to help her fit everything in.
"People ask Michelle and me if we're going to walk at graduation, and our husbands say yes before we can," Barbara laughs. Thinking about the efforts of the many people who've contributed to her success as an adult student, she affirms "the people around us will celebrate with us."
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Page updated: 06-May-2009
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