School & Graduation

There was a point when I working full time and going to school full time that I didn't think that I would be able to make it through school. I had no idea what I wanted to do and I changed my major 3 times (Early Childhood Education, Business Management, Accounting). Working so hard towards nothing seemed useless at the time. It wasn't until I took an Intro to Social Work class that I found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a social worker.

I was adopted when I was 4 years old, but before that, I spent 3 years in a foster home. Although I was young and it was a long time ago, I do have some memories. I specifically remember three of my social workers and the happiness that I felt when they would come visit my sister and me. I want to be able to bring that kind of joy to other children-children who may not have anyone else to bring them joy. They gave me hope as they promised me a forever family, and I am so grateful for the forever family that they found for me.

My Dad, Sister (Renee),Mom, and Me

My Dad and Me

My Dad in his Doctoral robes. He had to hand out diplomas at a different ceremony across campus at the same time so he handed them out and sprinted across campus in time to see me walk!

My mom and Me

So, I finally found out what I wanted to do, but the problem was that BYU had just barely gotten rid of their undergraduate Social Work program. The next closest thing was Sociology. The plan then became to get my Bachelors in Sociology and then go back to get my Masters in Social Work. As of April, I have finished the first part of that plan.

I loved the Sociology program at BYU. It was the hardest things I have ever done but it's the most rewarding feeling to have completed it. Despite the hard work and stress, I was able to make the most amazing friends. We banded together to get through rough semesters and tough teachers, but they always knew how to make tough things enjoyable.

(Shorty Sandwich-Hannah and I always had to be on the ends)

(Had to show off our new dresses!)

(Maurine and Me)

(Maurine's graduation party)

I had the opportunity to work with my favorite professor and a group of other students on a research project. We researched professional Rugby teams and how teams extract players from other countries to play for their team. We also did another study to look into the racial segration of players within teams (stacking). We had a couple of the star players on the BYU Rugby team on our research team. We got in free to all of the games! I was able to go to San Diego with two other girls from my team to present our paper at a Sociology conference. The whole research experience was so exciting and I am so happy that I was able to get on to the research team. Here is our research team (the students that graduated. There are still three other students who were not at graduation.)

Graduating has got to be one of the best feelings in the world. It's the culminating experience to years and years of hard work, stress, and sacrifice. I know a lot of people decide not to walk, but walking at graduation was one of the most fun things that I did in college! Everyone around you is happy and the joy is intoxicating.

Lining up to walk. It looks like there is no one in the audience, but there were hundreds of people-It's just a huge venue!