Back to School
"I had no idea that you didn’t have your degree”. That is a comment I hear occasionally, whenever I display some of my Queen of Insurance Magic and then get to know the person who wants to know “who’s that girl?”. If you have heard my story, you know that I became a mother at the age of 16 and as a result, deferred my pursuit of higher education. You probably know that I have three adult daughters who possess 5 degrees between them. You may also know that I recently resumed my education, in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in Risk Management and Insurance. I write this piece to help process the emotions I am experiencing right now. Thank you in advance for your indulgence.
My insurance career began in 1984 and has always been distinguished by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I truly love insurance and my McGyver-esque approach to my career has allowed me to gather resources along the way, that I could utilize to spur my career advancement. I credit the normal insecurities and teen mom baggage to the pervasive feelings of inadequacy (it is interesting how our childhood scars never really go away completely). It is a daily struggle to reconcile my intellectual understanding of my strengths with that nagging feeling of not measuring up. Intellectually, I understand that I am very smart and talented. Emotionally, I harbor some regret about what I perceive to be missed opportunities.
I was a 2017 CPCU designee, but my plans to frolic with Mickey in Orlando were canceled by Hurricane Irma. So I packed my Wonder Woman themed mouse ears and brought them with me to the 2018 annual meeting and conferment in Santa Barbara. The Society does a marvelous job of celebrating new designees and making them feel special. The whole trip was amazing and cemented my commitment to the CPCU Society. It was in Santa Barbara that I attended a seminar and spoke about my feelings of insecurity because I did not have my degree. After that seminar, my friend and fellow CPCU, Margarita Hudgins approached me and offered to mentor me through the process of completing my degree.
Margarita shared her academic journey with me, and connected me with an administrator at Franklin University. Franklin is a friend of the CPCU Society and I was able to transfer a significant number of credits for the courses I completed to earn all those letters I have after my name. When I started the Summer 2020 semester, I was also working full-time in a demanding role at work, and teaching a CPCU class each week. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to manage. It has been many years since I had been a student in any formal sense. And those self-doubts kept creeping in. But I put on my game face, and told myself that I could get it done.
This is the reason I was at my desk yesterday in tears (happy tears). You see, I got my final grade in the final of the two classes I took for the summer semester, and am elated to report that I ROCKED this semester and have a 4.0 GPA. I want to thank my family and friends who supported and encouraged me – Margarita for helping me get started, my daughters for the tutoring and advice, and everyone else who let me know that they are proud of me.
I know that I have a little ways to go. There is a math class on deck for the fall semester, so I probably better enjoy this 4.0 while I can – lol. But I am looking forward to being able to share a picture of me in my cap and gown and follow up with whatever is next. Did you know that Syracuse University has a joint Masters/JD program…………………?
