Skip to main content

Education can be a lifelong Endeavor


The Long Road to a Masters Degree



I remember thinking how hard it would be to enroll in Graduate school. This occurs to me in late December, 2001, a month short of my fifty fifth birthday. I dreamed of securing a second career due to my upcoming retirement. My work schedule is hectic. I am a data entry clerk. I work third shift, ten hours a day, six days a week.

I graduated from Northwood University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration on May 11, 1996. Sometime in January, 2002, I decided to pursue my Master’s degree in Organizational Management.. Several of my supervisors, who were pursuing an advanced degree, recommended I enroll with the University of Phoenix on-line, since attending a brick and mortar school would be impossible with to my work schedule. No one told me the difficulty that I would encounter working full time and taking master’s degree courses simultaneously.

The first obstacle that I encountered is self doubt. I realized that my academic future depended upon the results of research. As I start to take courses, I quickly realized that time spent on homework (a prerequisite to graduation) is time spent away form research. And it is research that defines a person as an expert in a certain field of knowledge.

There is so much reading involved in both preparing for your class discussions and the preparation of class papers. This is over and above the research that I noted above. It is not unusual to read ten peer-reviewed papers in any given week. It is also the comprehension of the material being read that is of outmost importance, because if you do not understand the material, it becomes obvious to your peers and your professor.

The actual writing of my class assignments is relatively easy for me to do. My previous experience as a procedures writer proves to be invaluable. Prior to enrolling in this endeavor, I had the good fortune of two fantastic mentors who influenced me greatly. For example, I am able to provide real job experience vignettes as an anecdotal portion to my papers to introduce readers to the research that I had conducted, or to further clarify a point made

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have to stop taking classes in 2004. I resume classes in 2007, but this time I pursue a degree in Psychology. I am not sure why it never occurred to me that this subject would be of interest; yet, it proved to be a wonderful field to study. My favorite part was finding that my favorite statistics class that I enjoyed so much during my undergraduate studies proved to be a real asset as a psychologist. The realization that statistics is used to validate studies conducted by my cohorts was a wonderful realization.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DNA Results

 I have been thinking about doing a DJNA test as to ascertain my genealogical origins. I selected FamilyTreeDNA as the laboratory to conduct such test. I started by requesting a Y chromosome study, which means the chromosome that is passed from father to son. Here are some results: My Haplogroup is J-Z631. My understanding as a lay person is that Haplogroup refers to a genealogical tree branch. According to FamilyTreeDNA my paternal line was formed when it branched from the ancestor J-Z8421, and the rest of mankind, around 1900 BCE.  The man who is the most recent common ancestor of this line is estimated to have been born around 950 BCE (FamilyTreeDNA.) He is the ancestor of at least six descendant lineages known as J-Y87605, J-Z1043, J-Y144394, J-BY178901, J-FT101890, and J-PH9933. There are 793 DNA tested descendants whose earliest known origins are from Germany, United States, England and 46 other countries. Descendants of J-Z631 (my Haplogroup) are from these countries: S...

Araiza's Genealogy

My father was born in Etzatlan, Jalisco, Mexico, on February 6, 1904. His parents were Juan Araiza and Maximiana Fregoso. My dad's grandparents were Juan Jose Araiza and Fransisca Reynoso (paternal side) and Felipe Fregoso and Atanasia Fernandez (maternal side). My grandfather had eleven siblings: Jose de Jesus, Jose Teodoro, Jose Paulino, Jose Martin, Maria Eufemia, Maria Abundia, Juan Jose, Francisca , and others.Their last names were Araiza Reinoso, which means that their mother's maiden name was Reynoso. My grandfather was the seventh born of this marriage. Jose Teodoro was the Municipal President in Talpa in the year 1876. My grandmother Maximiana was born around 1864 in Soyatlan, Jalisco, Mexico. She had three children. The firstborn was Felicitas Araiza Fregoso, who was born in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico in 1886. In addition, she had my dad Ramon and a boy named Jose Maria. My grandmother passed away on May 24, 1950. She lived to a ripe age of 86 according to the de...

What is this Blog About?

What I want to talk about is the content of this blog. My original intent is to convey some of the history of who I am and where I come from. I do this by providing some data that was originally written by my grandfather and the long conversations I had with my dearly departed father and mother regarding our family history. The other topic I want to cover is the wonderful journey that I have traveled as an immigrant to the United States for fifty-five years. I am so interested in the cultural differences of my country of birth in contrast to the values and mores of the people of this country; it is a fascinating subject. What has encouraged me so much to excel, regardless of my economic condition, is the number of Americans who have mentored me and encouraged me to attain my goals. My gratitude to Bill Baker, my long- time friend and mentor. I also include some information regarding DNA test results that might clarify some the information that I provide in this blog. I ho...