Every day, I walk into a classroom and encourage young children to learn, explore, try again, and celebrate their growth. As an early childhood educator, I have the privilege of watching children discover just how capable they are. What makes this season of my life particularly meaningful is that while I am teaching them, I am also learning that same lesson about myself.
Returning to college as an adult has been an experience filled with excitement, determination, sacrifice, and plenty of late nights. I work full-time in early childhood education while pursuing my degree at the University of Maryland Global Campus. Some days, I leave a classroom where I have spent hours teaching, nurturing, cleaning, planning, problem-solving, and caring for children—only to go home and become the student.
It is not always easy.
There are nights when an assignment is the last thing I feel like doing. There are moments when balancing work, school, family, responsibilities, and simply having a life feels overwhelming. But I have learned that pursuing a goal does not require life to become perfectly convenient first.
Sometimes growth happens right in the middle of everything else.
Becoming the Student I Encourage My Children to Be
Working with young children has actually changed the way I view my own education. I constantly remind my students that it is okay if they do not know something yet. We practice. We make mistakes. We try again. We celebrate progress.
Eventually, I realized I needed to give myself that same grace.
College is not about proving that I already know everything. It is about being willing to learn what I do not know. Every discussion post, research assignment, presentation, and challenging course is another opportunity for me to become stronger—not only academically, but personally and professionally.
There Is No Expiration Date on Your Goals
One of the biggest lessons this journey has taught me is that everyone’s timeline looks different.
Education does not belong only to someone who graduates high school and immediately completes college four years later. Sometimes life takes you in another direction first. You work. You grow. You experience things. You discover what matters to you. And sometimes you find yourself returning to a dream with more purpose than you would have had the first time around.
I am proud of the student I am becoming because I understand what I am working toward and why.
My education represents more than a degree. It represents advancement, opportunity, personal growth, and the ability to continue building a future that reflects the life I envision for myself.
Learning While Leading
There is something special about being both an educator and a student.
My students may be young, but they remind me daily that learning requires curiosity, courage, and persistence. They celebrate putting together a puzzle, recognizing something new, completing an activity independently, or finally accomplishing something they have practiced repeatedly.
Adults deserve to celebrate those moments too.
Every completed course matters. Every assignment submitted after a long workday matters. Every time I choose not to give up matters.
I do not have to wait until graduation to be proud of myself.
Keep Going
If another adult student happens to read this while wondering whether returning to school was the right decision, I hope they remember this: you do not have to have the perfect circumstances to pursue something meaningful.
You simply have to continue.
There will be difficult weeks. There will be tired nights. There may even be moments when you question yourself. But one challenging moment does not erase the reason you started.
I spend my days encouraging children to believe that they are capable of learning, growing, and becoming more independent. Now, I am giving myself that same encouragement.
I am a teacher.
I am a student.
And most importantly, I am still becoming.
