As the quarter nears its finish....

I get more and more excited. Soon, April 30 will be here, and I'll be with my fellow students at the Izod Center in Rutherford, New Jersey, getting my Bachelor's in Finance. I cannot stress enough what this means to me; it leaves me with a great feeling. And it lets me know now that anything I put my mind to, I can actually follow through on it and achieve it. There are no more excuses or "shoulda, coulda, wouldas" for this young woman; I will face all of my major decisions and situations head on. This is what Berkeley College has taught me and prepared me for.

Turns out I'm not the only one, either; the graduation speeches that we had to type up for our internship gave me some insight into my fellow students' personalities and how they all struggled to get where they were. Some were teenage parents, some had to travel distant lands, some came from less-than-desirable family circumstances--and they all persevered. Now the payoff for all of our hard work will be that piece of paper in hand, and we will carry that self-determined spirit with us not only into the workplace, but throughout our lives. Because if Berkeley College has taught me anything besides academics, it has taught me perseverance. When I think of what I went through to stay afloat financially and continue with my education (determined not to throw in the towel), I have to really give thanks to God for guiding me and not allowing me to give up. I made arrangments with Student Accounts and made every effort to keep up my end of those arrangements. I knew that there was a good chance that if I dropped out of school for the semester until I got my finances together, I stood a good chance of not returning at all to continue to pursue my educational goals.

To those students and faculty who are reading this, I hope you all continue to encourage each other and reach your educational goals together. And never stop learning, for I don't intend to; I will continue to learn beyond the halls (or computer) of Berkeley College.