It's a Darn Shame

So I've been thinking.

I recently graduated in December with a B.A. in English - Professional Writing and a 3.54 GPA.

For the most part I received good grades. During my second semester I went through some personal things that made me put school on the back burner and unfortunately instead of dropping classes, I took poor grades. It was a valuable lesson in itself and I realized that it was better to drop a class if the load was too heavy than to accept a below par grade.

But I'm digressing now. Here's the real sad situation: Upon graduating I learned that Purdue Calumet's Outstanding Student Award had some very poor limitations.

I managed to balance up to 3 jobs at a time, 18 credit hours (that's 6 classes, Sally), and raise a young child while graduating with an above-average GPA.

It would seem that my ability to get through the pressures of school and the added pressures of life off-campus would make me or anyone else in a similar situation a darn good candidate for the Outstanding Student Award. This is not the case, however.

The Outstanding Student Award only recognizes those students who maintain a good GPA as well as participate in extra-curricular activities and community service projects. It makes no room for those of us who, due to our off-campus responsibilities, could not fit extra-curricular activities such as glee club, theater, intramural sports, student government, or other various clubs into our busy, high-stress schedules.

The reality is that there are plenty of outstanding students who cannot fill their plates with extra-curricular involvement because they've got too many other responsibilities.

So I didn't join the dance team. How many students managed to work those 3 jobs, take 6 classes a semester, while raising a healthy, well-adjusted child? Extra-curricular activities are important. They help to create well-rounded individuals. But a person can become just as well rounded by working and taking classes at the same time, or even raising a child at the same time. I wasn't Student Body President; I did, however, have one of the hardest jobs in the world: raising another productive human being. There's something to be said about that, wouldn't you say?

I split my time between academia and my son for 5 years. That's a big sacrifice on both sides. There were times when I thought I was going to pull my hair out in frustration, or that I was going to break under the pressure. Times when I had to come home and start my homework at 10pm after a long day because my son needed help with his own homework or just wanted to play.

I'm sure there were also students who didn't have children but still had to work hard to pay for their educations that maintained good grades through it all.

But we get no recognition for this fact. And when it comes time for the job search, our resumes suffer as well. We can't rightly put "single-parent who took 6 classes at a time while working 3 jobs" under our "Activities" section. Some of us, myself being one of them, couldn't even fit an internship into our schedules because of the fact that many of them are unpaid. How could we possibly devote anywhere from 15 to 40 hours a week for an internship without any income for three months?

So even though we worked hard and managed to find a balance between work and school and family, it seems to go unnoticed. It's a scary thought. It's a very sad situation.

But I refuse to think that this is just the way that it has to be. That our hard work is useless because we didn't participate in French Club. That our degrees are worth less than the degrees of students who had more flexible schedules. It's just not true.

When I do find a job and establish myself, I would really like to find a way to honor those students who, like myself, managed to excel in academia with outside responsibilities fighting them at every turn. I would love to be able to establish an award that lets those students know that the struggles they faced are understood and that just because they didn't play in the band or study abroad, it doesn't mean they didn't get the most out of the college experience.

I will succeed, not only to better my life and better the life of my son, but also to show those students out there who are struggling like I struggled that what's important is doing what you can feasibly do---and doing it all the best that you can. That what works for you is what matters and your dreams are just as reachable as those who may have had more options in school.

The fact that we are even in school shows our determination and drive. That in itself is our first success. That in itself makes us outstanding.