My senior year of high school, I wanted to be a nurse. I always had an inkling to go to college to get a degree where I was working in healthcare with people, but it definitely took quite the turn after my freshman year.
Prior to starting online school at the University of North Dakota my junior year, I had attended NDSU in Fargo my freshman year as a nursing major. Growing up, I wanted to be a "baby doctor" because of my love for children and infants. I not only dreamed of being a mom one day, but I also wanted to care for children and infants in my professional life. While in Fargo, I had the chance to meet two of my absolute BEST friends who are North Dakota natives and were actually in our wedding! I am so blessed to still have them in my life as my sweet friends. After realizing nursing wasn't my thing at ALL, I ended up moving to Duluth where I finished up my generals at Lake Superior College. Joel was finishing up his undergrad at the University of Minnesota Duluth, so it was so nice to be closer to him and not have a long-distance relationship anymore. After living in Duluth for a year and prior to starting my adventure of online school fall of 2017, Joel and I were BUSY. We had just gotten engaged in March, moved back home for the summer, I was working at a nursing home, also was planning our wedding, Joel moved to Milwaukee in May, we got married in July, I moved to Milwaukee following the wedding, we went on our "minimoon" to the Boundary Waters, and THEN I began my journey of online schooling.....Gosh, thinking back to that entire year is CRAZY! We had so much going on and had so many new chapters open in our lives so quickly. Though it wasn't easy, we did it together. I know that many other things in our lives won't be easy, (as I have quickly learned) but thank goodness I have my Joel to tackle this crazy life with. When first looking into UND's online programs, one thing that really surprised me was that as a Communications major, I would never even have to step foot on campus until graduation, if I even wanted to walk at graduation. People are always so surprised that I had never even been to Grand Forks until graduation. Another thing that I didn't expect was the wide variety of online programs that UND offers. They offer undergrad programs, masters degree's, doctoral degrees, certificates, and more! The options are endless and range from communications, to engineering, to general studies, to nursing, to psychology, to social work, and so much more! Another positive thing about UND's online Communications program was that I ended up saving quite a bit of money by going to school online. Prior to starting, I had the assumption that online school tuition would be more expensive than traditional in-classroom, but my tuition ended up being way lower than I expected. So my money-saving, stingy with my money self was even more excited about this new adventure, knowing I would be saving money. Though going to college online was not something I ever anticipated doing, it ended up being one of the best adventures that came my way. Just like many things in life, it brought me challenges when I wasn't expecting them and sometimes made things really hard. Like the time my computer crashed the first day of finals week, or the time I forgot to save an assignment and lost hours worth of work. But despite all of the frustrations, I am SO grateful to have had the opportunity to do it. In my experience, I think going to school online made the last two years of school a lot easier than going on campus; plus online school was just more convenient for me overall. The classes themselves and the workload were not any easier, (some people say online courses are harder in those ways), but the flexibility and ability to decide when I worked on my schoolwork made it a much better option for me. May of 2019, I was able to conquer a HUGE goal of mine and graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications! WAHOO! It was an awesome feeling since it was such an important goal of mine to graduate on time despite all of my transferring, moving, and job changes. I am so happy to say I accomplished such a big goal of mine. When I think about the last four/five years, the thought that always comes to my mind is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths". . . . God has surprised me with so many things I never expected the last four years of my life and I still laugh about it daily. He always leaves me wondering, "oh boy, what is next in store for me God?" The last couple of years have brought me so many changes and have really helped me to trust His plan for my life. Because I've realized it isn't in my hands at all, so I have to trust Him and remember that he is good all the time. It's easy to have the instincts to try to plan out how you want your life to be by creating goals and dreams, (which I also think is an awesome thing to do), but you will be surprised to see what God really has planned for you and your life. I always said I would graduate college at 22 or 23 as a nurse, get married right after college, and have kids at 25. Instead, I got married at 20, graduated as a Communications major, and in August of 2019, accepted a job in a field I never saw myself working in. I couldn't be more content and happy with how my life that I never expected to have has turned out. It's not a perfect life, but I know I don't want a perfect life. Because when life does get "messy" in my eyes, I have come to understand that there is always a reason for that. And that "messy" really is "beautiful" in God's eyes. When I think of "messy" or "hard" or "sad", I think of my goodbye to my grandma when she passed away. Though it was VERY hard and heartbreaking to me, I know she is in heaven with Jesus and is made new living an eternal life. I am a firm believer in God's timing and plan for my life, even despite the confusion, frustration, and heartache that impacts us all. We all go through hard times, but we are never alone no matter how lonely we may feel. God is with us already standing in our today and all of our tomorrows. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you" Deuteronomy 31:6.
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