It's never too late to finish your degree

This weekend, I am finishing college.

I am sure that may not sound like a big deal to you. After all, plenty of people get their degrees. But I am 57. I dropped out of college 35 years ago. And today I am wrapping it up.

The thing about dropping out of college is that it's one of those "things we never talk about". I had a successful career for 30 years. No one had any idea I dropped out in my fifth year of an uninspired college journey. I run a nonprofit now and pretty much all of my staff have advanced degrees. That always felt a little strange to me, but I shrugged it off, knowing I brought things other than my education to the job.

I managed to navigate this over the years. I never lied. I would just say "two years at Western Washington University and 2.5 years at University of Washington" on my resume, letting people draw their own conclusions. I just chose to not talk about it and would quickly change the subject when it came up.

I get how privileged I am, both in race and in generation. Today's kids could not have the same career I had without their undergrad degrees. And I realize BIPOC colleagues face a whole different set of challenges in their careers, as so many of my jobs over the years happened because of connections and the people I knew.

But for me, lacking the degree was a lifelong embarrassment. And to be honest, it was something that bothered me because I deserve to have the degree. I also always regretted how little I focused on college the first time. I was more focused on my job at a radio station than I was in learning. I skipped classes for days on end. I have all kinds of rationale for why I dropped out, and frankly, I initially thought I would complete it in a couple of years. But as my career took off, the window closed. So it just never happened.

Over the years, I have tried to mentor people whenever I can. College students. Graduates. High school kids. People in career transition. I try to be available and listen, coach and help them as they enter their own careers. My career may seem successful to some from the outside, but trust me when I say it had many challenges along the way. There are choices I could have made differently. Mentoring gives me a chance to help others and it fills my soul when I connect to a young person. I have always dreamed of someday doing that, maybe even mentoring and coaching as part of my career.

So two of our three kids had their degrees and the last one was in his freshman year of college when I decided the time had come. For me, that meant returning to my alma mater, UW, and completing the degree in the Integrated Social Sciences program. I was able to do it online on the weekends while I ran a nonprofit during the week. The program gave me a chance to study everything from communications to oceanography, sustainability to education. And it gave me a chance to focus on my passion, studying institutional racism. Here is a link to my portfolio, which tells you all about the program, how it worked and my own journey.

So today I graduate. Tomorrow, I am taking six weeks off before I start my masters degree. I will be attending University of Florida, which has a fantastic Masters of Mass Communications (with a focus on Public Interest Communications). This means I will be studying how to tell stories and help causes that change the world. And I intend to teach about it down the road.

I have a vivid memory of talking to my old mentor, Pete Steffens. He was my journalism professor at Western and we remained close until he died seven years ago. About a decade ago, he and I were catching up and he said, "When are you going to get the degree?" I laughed and told him my time had come and gone and maybe it would never happen. I vividly recall him chuckling and saying, "Lauri, George Eliot said it's never too late to be what you might have been. I always saw you as a teacher. And there's no expiration date on that possibility."

So here I am. I am now the possessor of a college degree and about to start on my master's. At some point, I will teach people how to communicate to change the world. And I am sure that first day in class, whether it is virtual or in-person, I am going to feel a bit of Pete's presence.

So the question is: If you have been meaning to get your degree, what are you waiting for?

Lauri Hennessey is the CEO of League of Education Voters in Washington state and a graduate of the University of Washington. You can find her on Twitter.. or check out her portfolio to learn more about UW's ISS program.