A Woman on a Mission
Seprina Moragne is on a mission. She came to UNCG with the hope that she could finish a four-year Accounting degree in three years of full-time, year-round study. After two years, she's right on track.
Seprina had always wanted to come back to college, but her decision to enroll when she did was made suddenly. She had one month's notice that her 18-year career with Kroger would end abruptly when all the stores in this area closed. She had worked her way up from cashier to front-end manager. "I didn't want to start at the bottom and climb the ladder again," she recalls.
Made a Detailed Plan
Instead she started at the bottom of an academic ladder, as a new freshman. Although she had begun a business program at GTI (now GTCC) as a young student, none of the courses brought transfer credit. She took advantage of an advising opportunity in the UNCG Business School and made a course-by-course plan for the 122 hours she'd need to finish her degree. It's the plan she's still following.
Looking back, she can see how many goals she has already accomplished. She has completed the two Spanish courses required to remove an entrance deficiency in foreign language (she did not take two years in high school). She has worked her way through all the math required for admission to the Accounting major, starting with a noncredit review course and ending with calculus. She has completed the prerequisites and been formally admitted into the Accounting program in the Business School.
Persistence Her Key to Success
When asked what the keys to her success have been, she immediately answers, "Persistence!" She remembers how hard the Spanish classes were in the beginning. "I really put myself into those classes," she says, "I just blocked everything else out and told myself 'I have to get this.'"
Math has been "rough," she admits, "It never got easy." In calculus, "I thought my head was going to bust!" She met with a tutor (provided by the math department) every Monday and Wednesday and more often for tests. "When a friend and I passed the calculus course, we took that tutor to lunch!" she laughs.
"I go to see all my professors at the beginning of the class to let them know who I am and how hard I'm trying for this," Seprina says. "I warn them, 'you might be seeing me a lot,'" she says. "If I have a problem, I go."
During the term that she took both calculus and business statistics, Seprina realized that she wasn't finding time for walking, her regular exercise. "I decided to incorporate an activity class into my schedule as an elective each term," she says. "I knew I'd go to class, so I knew I'd get my exercise." So far she's completed Weight Training, Aerobics, and Water Aerobics. Volleyball and Swimming are coming up.
Another Key to Success is Family Support
Another key to her success is the support of her husband and family. Her son will enroll in college himself this year. Her twelve-year-old daughter helped her study Spanish with flash cards and is now learning to do some of the family cooking. "I can read while she makes the burgers," says Seprina. "And if my husband needs to talk when he gets home, I will. . . He's there for me and I want to be there for him. . . I don't want to finish my degree and not have my family . . . I love A's, but I don't have to make an A. I'll take a B or C before I'll neglect my family," she affirms.
Seprina is often found among a group of fellow adult students in the Business school's Blimpie lounge--studying, working on group projects, and sometimes socializing. "You know everybody," her friends say to her. She usually studies during breaks between classes, and estimates she puts in 15 hours a week in addition to her time on campus.
"If I can work for 18 years, surely I can go to school for 3"
Can she keep up the pace? "I've gotta do what I've gotta do," she says. "If I worked for 18 years, surely I can go to school for 3." When she thinks of days when she is on campus from 8-6 or times when she takes a book with her to her daughter's dancing class, she admits "school is harder than work." "I have one more year. It's going to be rough, but I'm going to do it!"
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Page updated: 06-May-2009
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