Random Fact #2

Fact: I graduated from high school a year early and entered college a year late.

The year was 1976. A friend of mine noted that one could get all of the high school credits then required for graduation by the end of the 11th grade. All you needed was permission from your parents. We were in the 11th grade and both hated school, so we decided to go this route. (A couple of years later, they raised the number of credit hours needed so this was no longer possible.) So, there I was, a high school graduate 2 weeks before my 17th birthday with absolutely no job experience and no idea what I was going to do. My father says that I had promised him that I would go to college if he permitted the early graduation. This may be true because I probably would have promised almost anything to get out of high school, but, in truth, the idea of college scared me to death and I had no intention of going. (Not to mention that my parents had not done one thing to prepare me for the possibility of going to college--did not insist that I take college prep courses in high school, did not suggest that we go visit colleges, did not insist that I take the SATs.)

So, after a summer of doing nothing, my mom helped me get a job doing odds and ends in a small office through a friend of hers at church. Eventually, I took the civil servant's exam in preparation for applying for a federal government job (we lived in Maryland and both of my parents worked for the government in D.C.). I had taken typing in high school, but was never very good at it, but my skills were enough to make me eligible for clerical jobs. I got one at the National Endowment for the Arts. I worked there for a year with the growing realization that I was probably going to have to screw up my courage and go to college because my brain was turning to mush. During this time I was seeing a psychiatrist (something I've done more often than not during my adult life). I remember going to an appointment and crying (sobbing) because I thought I would have to figure out how to make myself go. To get to the point, I ended up at a small liberal arts school that was part of the state higher education system. They took me without the SATs because I had a good grade point average from high school (never mind that the courses were things like typing, business math, and individualized reading) and I had taken the ACTs and scored well. They also welcomed me because at the ripe old age of 19, I was considered an "older returning student." Yes; I had so much life experience! I was shaking so badly when I went to check in the first day that I could barely sign my name for the key to my room. Well, I made it through and graduated after 4.5 years with a degree in early childhood education. More on that tomorrow!