It's taken me 28 years to post this...

It has taken me 28 years to write this post...

I know, you must be thinking 'man, he must have a real hard time with phraseology and spelling,' and while that might be true, that's not the main reason it took 28 years.

28 Years ago I graduated High School and started college. During my 3rd year of school I met the woman of my dreams and we got married. One day shortly after the wedding, my boss came to me and said,

"I need someone full-time in this role, so you can work full-time or find another job."

Newly married and now with a little one on the way, I chose to stay employed, so I dropped out of classes.

During the next 23 years I worked hard, always providing for my family and enjoying the life we were building together. It was our faith that carried us through the hard times and also where we celebrated during the times of plenty. Our church family became a lifeblood to our family, allowing us and our kids to plug into something 'bigger than us' and make friends and find a place to serve others. I'm not certain where we would today be without our faith and church family.

Well, to say that finding great companies to work at without a degree was challenging would be an understatement, even for someone with multiple achievements and many successful years in the same industry. While trying to push forward in my career I heard the following too many times when applying for a new role:

"you have the experience and skills we're looking for, but you don't have your degree so we can't hire you"

In 2015 I decided to get back to it and finish the degree. To say this was easy, would be a lie. It is probably also worth sharing that I heard many voices on my journey to restarting degree completion, some said, 'why do you need a degree, you seem successful enough, ' or 'why don't you wait until your kids are all grown and out of the house, this isn't the right time to finish.' I chose to push forward, 1 class each semester, then two classes a semester, even pushing through 5 courses in my last semester just to finish for May graduation. I will share some things I learned about taking classes again that I had not prepared for:

• after 23 years, the algebra you've never used doesn't just 'come back to you.'
• the rules of writing had changed, what happened to the 2nd space after the period?
• when the school you previously attended closes their doors, it's not easy to find a school that will take your transfer credits.
• there's no extra time in a day, you have to steal time from something else in order to make time for school work.

Thankfully, #HorizonUniversity was gracious to me and worked with my past transcripts, so I set out on a path toward degree completion. Horizon University has many students who, like me, were going back to school to finish their degree

They developed an ebook which talks about the different paths people take in their degree completion, I realized I was not alone. I re-started my degree completion in August 2015 with 54 of the 144 credits I would need to graduate and I am happy to share that as of June 6, 2021 I have completed my Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership.

Presiding over the graduation ceremony was Lawrence Mayor Steve Collier along with the president Randall E Dodge, PhD, JD, and chairman of the board Bill Goodrich. The ceremony was one of those moments in life when every word spoken to you has impact, the people present create the atmosphere, and you feel as though you you have been provided this rare gift...a sort of freedom to move forward, to be something you have always been but to be a better version of that 'self' from that point forward.

I was asked to share during the ceremony. My speech covered my journey in degree completion (5 schools, 144 credit hours, 53 courses, countless hours, many instructors) and then I shared thanks to: my parents-instilling the values of hard work and persistence; my children-putting up with too many evenings and weekends locked away in my office; my wife-her support, patience, hard work and for carrying extra work these last few years also; and my God-granting me the strength, patience and extra measure of persistence to endure.

I also spoke to the other students who were completing either a certificate program or an associate degree, challenging them to push forward and complete what they started. Nothing is easier as you get older, the blessings of life and family and career bring (good) complexity, so there is no better time than now to finish their degree.

Truly so many lessons learned through this process. I don't regret these past 6 years and the sacrifices and struggles that came with losing jobs and leaving jobs, and being stretched and frustrated and working crazy hard while putting in the many many many hours of study and class work. In the end, I only regret not completing my degree sooner!

I am thankful to have had my family present with me to celebrate.

Truly they are the stars in my story.