A message to Towson University officials from one non-traditional student…
I am what you would call a non-traditional student. I started college right after high school, but took some time off before starting again a few years ago. Not only did I start my first semester at Towson this past fall, I also transferred my math credit back to Anne Arundel Community College, where I earned my associates degree at the age of 28. The degree came in the mail a day after I turned 29.
Due to the interesting position I am in, I thought I would explore the possibility of reaching out to other students like myself. The only problem is that I was told that Towson University has not had a non-traditional student group in years. A quick search of the school website turns up only one page for non-traditional students, which is completely full of self help links.
Being a non-traditional student is not easy, especially when you are more than likely supporting yourself and paying for school at the same time. Due to the current state of the economy, the non-traditional student ranks are growing. I would encourage the administration of this school to re-evaluate how it reaches out to non-traditional students like myself. While 18-22 year olds are desired; non-traditional students can balance a campus community by sharing the real world experience that we endured while not in a classroom. To dismiss real world experience for the sake of the college experience is in my view intellectually dishonest.
This letter was originally submitted to The TowerLight, but they chose not to publish it…so I published it here on my blog. No hard feelings…honestly.
Time for the ‘Double’ Up
Before I continue, I just want to say that I cannot stand Ann Coulter. She is a detriment to the conservative side of the argument who goes for the shock rather than the point. I refuse to read her books because she has not proven that she can make her point without being over the line insulting. With that said, I also would like to point out that I am a big lover of intellectual honesty, something that liberals have yet to get a grasp on. Both are illustrated in this clip as I give credit to Ann Coulter for not only making a valid point, but calling out the Rev. Al Sharpton on his hypocrisy.
The fact of the matter is that Coulter is absolutely correct in stating that if Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada was a Republican, Sharpton would be calling for his resignation, and would not stop calling for Reid’s resignation until it happened. In fact, I think when compared to now former Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), Reid is getting off light. Lott said that America would be a better place had Strom Thurmond (who was a Democrat until 1964 for the record) would had been better if he was elected President in 1948. Still a stupid thing to say considering that Thurmond was running as a segregationist. What Reid said was a lot worse, nevermind the fact that he used the overly outdated term, “Negro.”
I did it.
On Monday, August 30, 1999, I began my trek towards higher learning at Prince George’s Community College…then a bunch of stuff happened. At some point in 2003/2004, I decided to move everything college related to Anne Arundel Community College. When I first moved to Laurel, I was living in the Anne Arundel County side so that made sense. Little did I know, I was going to wind up back in Prince George’s County. I still kept my stuff at AACC because I thought it was a better school for me than PGCC (it was and it is.) Through highs and lows beginning with the Summer 2005 through the Summer 2009 semester, I stuck to it as best as I knew how.
As many of you know, I recently started the next phase of my undergraduate career at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. For those who are not familiar with Maryland, it’s directly north of Baltimore. I had left AACC, three credits shy of getting my Associates…math. I signed up for basic general math, the one I should have signed up for in hindsight at AACC instead of statistics. I’m still asking what I was thinking in picking that subject, but that is a moot point. I have earned my math credits.
What’s bad about this?
This is one of those things that I had to see for myself; Brit Hume on Fox News Sunday suggesting to Tiger to take up Christianity. Could you blame me? Usually when you hear about someone suggesting turning to Jesus as one’s savior, the news travels fast to the point that people want to scream red. So when I watched the video of what Brit said I wondered…
Christmas at Burns House #1
Lighting the Tower
