Best Collegiate Nomination

 

As some of you know, I was nominated for the Vivi Awards: BEST COLLEGE. I first got word of this nomination when people started leaving congrats comments in my journal. I figured it must have been a mistake, so I wrote another entry, and still the congrats followed. If I had never looked into my spam folder, I would have probably never known that I was nominated, and I would have accidentally deleted my nomination tag in the spam folder.   I do not know why I was nominated for BEST COLLEGE, except that maybe it was because of a previous entry where I wrote about how difficult it was for me to complete my education after the babies came.    I am proud to say that I am the first generation in my family to graduate from college. I attended Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, Texas, also known as "The Island University."     My bachelor's degree is in Criminal Justice. I went to school full time, I worked at the university and at another job, and I had a mortgage, two little girls to support, no husband, no help from family, and no car.   This is the entrance for those who were lucky enough to have cars. Unfortunately, I sat at the bus stops waiting for the bus to take me to school and to bring me home after a long day of work and studies.   Most of my career has included jobs that required me to work 24/7. I have conducted investigations in child abuse, classified and counseled mentally ill inmates as a jail counselor, and worked as an inpatient/ outpatient case manager for the mentally ill to include suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and hospital commitments.   When I moved to the Valley, I wanted to work normal hours, so I became a workforce professional, helping the people on welfare and the unemployed to find placement, and now, I am working at a school as a youth case worker with "at-risk" kids.   I miss the Superhero life I used to lead. I miss the danger and the excitement of my previous jobs, but I do not miss the long hours and the many cars that I had to purchase because of intensive travel, gathering evidence, monitoring patients, and saving lives.   Some people live their whole lives for one person. I do not know what it is like to have someone to take care of me or to have a man who loves only me.   When I look back at my trials, the bad parts were what made the final outcome so great. I thank God for the many stories that I have to tell and for the many hearts that I have touched, helping them to make adifference in their own lives.   My daughter always said that I am immortal, because with all the dangers that I have had to face, I have come close to death more times than probably nine hundred cats with nine lives each. But once you are a Superhero, I suppose you are always a Superhero. Although my life now is not as dangerous, that quest to help others and to be the difference continues in my everyday life.   People are always making excuses for not completing their education. So many people with no kids complain that they cannot go to college if they have to work. So many people complain that they cannot go to college, because they don't have a car. My college days were full of obstacles. It was hard to face my everyday responsibilities that had nothing to do with college and to take time to study and pass my exams.   Thank you for considering me for the BEST COLLEGE Vivi Award when you vote on November 2nd.   Winivere