At the age of 44, I decided to go back to school.
I had been in retail on and off for 25 years and just could not do it anymore. My soul was literally crying out for fulfillment! I was scared and unrealistically afraid to fail. I wanted to go back to school a long time ago and my fear of failure stopped me from going at all.
Finally, I just couldn’t do retail anymore and went in and registered for the HCA program at Sprott Shaw in Surrey.
I live in a world where just going to school was not an option so had to face working full-time and going to school full-time. I was worried about how I would juggle the two and how would I have time to study or even do homework!
For 7 months day by day, I went to school at 6:30 am to do homework and study and then went to work. I got a max of 4-4 1/2 hours sleep a night and on exam days even less because I got up at 3:30 am to study as I had no other time to do so. I got most of my homework done and aced almost every exam. I finally graduated and w/Honours, no less. I couldn’t believe it and sometimes still can’t.
I am GRATEFUL to some of the women at Sprott Shaw for their constant encouragement even when I came in tears from sheer exhaustion and frustration pushing me to keep going and here I am now working where I did my first practicum and very happy indeed!
It was a tough slog and it took everything in me to do it…but “I DID IT”! WOOHOO!! Thank you, Sprott Shaw and specifically Lois (instructor), Shelley (finance), Aimée (career planning) and Angela (clinical instructor)!
Without you gals, I would not be where I am today!
Karen C.
Health Care Assistant Program
Surrey Campus
