Five Years Since USU

This month, it's been five years since I graduated from Utah State.  It seems like another life ago, and it is.  What hasn't happened in the last five years, seriously. 


When I think back on those graduate school years, they're some of my favorite.  When I decided to go back to grad school, I was 25 and having a mid life crisis.  I know that's such a cliche phrase, but that's really what it was.  I'd just been laid off from a job that I hadn't particularly liked and took a month to really think about what I wanted to be when I grew up.  We weren't all as lucky as Heber who knew exactly what he wanted in eighth grade, right down to the company he wanted to work for. 

It look me some time to know myself and to figure out what I wanted.  I'd never really developed that capacity to be able to recognize what I wanted.  I heard somewhere that your brain isn't fully developed until age 25.  That was true for me.  After a few real life lessons, I finally figured out that I wanted to go back to school and study Instructional Technology. 

When I think back on that time, it was a phase in my life where I really figured out what I wanted and lived it.  I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be and doing what I was supposed to be doing.  When I finally applied to school, within the week, I had two perfect part time jobs and things had fallen into place. 

I felt on fire those years.  I was learning incredible things and creating work that I'm still proud of.  I was dancing two or three nights a week with the Irish dance team.  Heber and I were both working hard and going to school.  We didn't see each other much but we built a strong foundation of supporting and encouraging the journey to accomplish dreams. 

More than any other time in my life, I was really living true to myself.  That's why those years are so special to me.  I want to live all of my life like that, pushing myself toward a goal and living authentically. 

My first day of school.  See how happy I am.

 

Cookies on Campus

We spent Sunday evening up on campus with the Kelsey's.  We ran around Old Main (the old stomping grounds) and talked about all the time we spent there.

The Kelsey's.  We love them.

Tami has been my best friend for a lot of years.  We met as roommates so I guess you could say we met because of Utah State.  She was dating her husband at the same time that I was dating Heber so we have lots of good memories together.  We've been there for each other through some of life's hardest challenges.  It's her birthday today and want to give a little shout out one of the kindest and most caring people I know.  Happy birthday to my dear friend Tami!

I haven't been up on campus in ages, maybe years.  But there was a time in my life that I was there every week day and most Saturdays.  Heb and I completed both our bachelors and masters degrees there and I consider my time here some of the finest of my life.  I became me here and I'll forever be happy that I chose USU.  It's a long story but I almost went to BYU (I mean housing, registered for classes, the works) and had one of those moments where I knew it was the wrong choice.  Guess I was really destined to be here.

The "A" for those of you not literate in USU lore, is one of those special places on campus where you become a "true Aggie."  It's right in front of Old Main and one of my favorite places on campus.  Lots of good things happened right around this spot, meeting and falling in love with Heber being one of them. 

 

Here's a throwback to our graduation day in 2011.  Good times.

That's Old Main in the background.

Reminisce

I went to institute today.  There was a class for moms and their kids.  There wasn't a teacher, which was slightly disappointing (I'm a student who likes structure.  Constructivism never really was for me), but we did discuss a talk.  Most of the girls had husbands in medical school or law school.  It got me thinking about grad school.  

They all talked about how hard it is to have your husband in school all the time.  What a difficult time it is for them.  When I think back on our grad school years, I feel so happy.  It was a time of real growth and learning.  Granted, Heb and I were both in school together, we didn't have any children and we'd lived in the same place for some time so we had formed some roots.  

For me, grad school was one of the best times of my life.  You probably wonder how I can say that, with all the stress and homework but I loved it.  It was one of those times when I knew that I was in the right place at the right time.

After graduating with my undergrad, I had a rough couple of years.  I worked at several places and tried to find a job or a place that really fit me.  I didn't have such good luck.  After being laid off, I took some time to think about who I wanted to be.  It was then that I realized that I wanted to go back to school and that I wanted to study Instructional Technology and Design.  When I made that choice and applied for the program, it's like everything fell easily into place in a way that it hadn't before.  Within a couple of weeks, I had two part time jobs that I liked and I was ready for school. 

The years that followed were filled with learning theory, learning flash and web design.  Reading books like Human Performance Systems and the Systematic Design of Instruction.  I created things that I never had the capacity to do before. 

My culminating project was for the Utah State Library.  I surveyed librarians across the state and analyzed the data to present to their board.  In grad school, I watched myself grow.

On my first day of grad school. 

Presenting my project at the State Library.

Now that I am a mother, I don't have as many opportunities to use the skills that I developed but I am so happy that I had that opportunity to pursue my degree.  I always carry the things that I learned, not just about the subjects but about myself. 

How are you pushing your boundaries?  Do you have an experience that really impacted the way you look at the world?

Sports

I am not a huge sports fan.  Never have been.  In fact, there have been times when I wondered why so much effort and emphasis is placed on sports, especially in college.  Of course, ALL of the years I was at USU, our football team was pretty dismal.  There was one season where they didn't even score a touchdown (let alone win) for four games.  No touchdowns.  Wow. 

This weekend, the USU football team beat U of U.  Did I watch the game?  No.  Did I really know it was happening until chatter started on facebook? No.  But, when I saw that USU had finally won after 12 years of losing, I felt proud.  I felt quite the camaraderie with my fellow Aggies all over the world.  I even broke down and watched some sports center to see the highlights from the game.  And in that moment, I wished I was there in the stadium watching the game, as we did so many times before.

Us at a football game in 2008.

I guess I can see that sports bring unity, spirit, pride.  You aren't really going to celebrate an excellent research project or an aced test...no, the broader community is brought together through sports.  I guess that makes sense.

Perhaps people need something to root for, to get behind together.  When you root for a team, you are a part of something.  Well, today I am rooting for my team.  Way to go Aggies on the win!