I am officially a College Student Again!

It was 15 years ago this month that I finally graduated from college with a B.A. in Marketing. I started my collegiate journey back in 1983 at Pierce Community College in Woodland Hills as a music major. After experiencing the highs of the stage as Kailua Madrigal Singer in high school, I was convinced that I wanted to sing for a living. An opera singer is what I wanted to be because after all I was fat and if you wanted to sing and were fat then obviously Opera was for me. Well unfortunately, I had very little self confidence and apparently not enough talent to make it out of the required sight singing class. So then, I decided to go for French as a major because I was also kind of good at languages. I spent another year doing that and decided I had messed around enough and needed to get serious!


I applied to both Cal state Northridge in the L.A area and ASU in Tempe Arizona ( where my mom was living at the time) as a business major because I just wanted to get a good job and make a living by then! ASU happened to accept my application while Northridge was strangely silent. Here's a picture of me at the beginning of my college career. Yes indeed....I did look 12. I although by then I was 24 I think. This was pre-braces so you can see the gap in my teeth. Yes for those of you who didn't know. My maiden name is DICKEY (cue painful childhood memories).



After starting at ASU, I still couldn't decide what I wanted to do and after another year of business classes with grades ranging from A's to C's, I decided I would again go for languages. I had studied Japanese in High School and thought that would be my ticket to adventure. I could go to Japan and teach English to the Japanese! I pursued that for two years and then just got tired of going to school. I had been on the 10 year plan and I just decided I wanted to be done!!! I went back to marketing and finally got my degree after a grueling round of summer school. It had taken me a long time, but I finished!!!! Yeah for me.

Now after 15 years in the workforce, I am going for my masters degree. I've been thinking about doing it for a few years, but dreaded the work it was going to entail. Now, I'm ready. Sierra does not need me around as much ( a fact that she makes quite clear) I can take time for this. Avnet will pay for it so why not! I'm going for a degree in something called " Instructional Technology" which is a fancy name for learning how to design and create training. This is a calculated move on my part to advance myself at Avnet while learning something that is not Electronics Industry specific. I can also do this job remotely from anywhere. As I look toward 50, I want to make sure I have all the skills I need to be independent of any particular company.
Stay tuned.......