January 1997, I attended Purdue University (West Lafayette Campus). My first class, I think, was “Intro to Unix”).
April 2022, I am attending Western Kentucky University. My last non-Capstone class is “Systems Architecture II”, a Linux class.
In 2 weeks, barring a disaster, I will finally walk down the aisle and receive a Bachelor’s Degree. The degree will be in Computer Information Technology, a mix of Networking, Programming, and Security, with a little bit of Computer Engineering thrown in.
It’s April 22nd (when I started typing); Commencement is May 4th. I am RIDICULOUSLY hyped and excited for this! I know that my family will be there; I’m not sure how many friends can make the trip to Bowling Green for it. Regardless, I’ve worked 25 years to get to this point and hopefully a lot of people can watch the Commencement.
I’ve been to 4 different colleges/universities:
- One semester at Purdue, majoring in a joint Chemistry/Chemical Engineering program. Loved the school, loved the campus, but could not afford the tuition – my Mom had suffered a stroke and school was put on the back burner.
- I sat out for 3.5 years before attending the University of Louisville. I was a mix of part and full-time until 2007. I originally majored in Chemical Engineering, then switched to CECS (Computer Engineering/Computer Science). I had some of the best (and worst) times of my life at UofL, especially centered around Pep Band and Marching Band. Unfortunately, I struggled finding a balance between school (time for HW and studying) and work (getting enough hours to pay rent/bills). Unfortunately, grades dipped too low and I ended up focusing on work.
- It took 7 long years before I could afford to get back in school; this time, I went to Jefferson Community and Technical College (started in Fall 2014). I majored in Computer Information Technology (CIT). I earned an Associates Degree in CIT in 2016.
- I finally enrolled at WKU in Fall 2016, majoring in CIT, in an all-online program. I only had 2 full-time semesters; the rest were half-time (2 classes, 6 hours total) or part-time (3 classes, 9 hours). This extended my time there but I didn’t burn myself out on school and work.
Part 2 will be some pics (hopefully) and reactions from the Commencement.
The Nexus 