A nontraditional student’s point of view
By Kelly Kuykendall
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Guest Columnist
When I was asked to do this piece on nontraditional students I thought long and hard about what it really meant to be just that. What really sets nontraditional students apart from the majority of the other college aged students?
I guess the biggest thing would have to be my age. I’m not old by any means, but I’m not fresh out of high school either. Another factor would have to be the fact that I have a son that is 17, and he will soon be a college student also.
During the time that most 18 year olds are thinking about college, I, on the other hand, had my son. This bundle of joy was the reason I entered the work force a little earlier: to make a living for the both of us.
It has been a hard road but it has been one heck of a ride up to this point. Although I have learned much during 17 years as a parent it doesn’t matter how many classes I may have under my belt. Classes can never give me the experience points that I have now.
Don’t get me wrong, I have the greatest teachers here at GHC and have learned a lot from them, but personal experience brings in another factor to the equation. It is because of these experiences that add a little more to the definition of nontraditional student.
Nontraditional students bring in our unique perspectives and ideas to help enhance the traditional college student’s understanding of the world.
We do this because we have truly been there done that. As Vernon Sanders Law said, “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”
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