I came from a family that was always very education-oriented, so I always assumed that I would be attending college. What I did not realize, however, was that my study habits would not line up with what I needed in college. During my high school years, I was much more concerned about friends, dancing, and violin than I was about my grades. I got decent grades throughout high school, but it wasn’t enough to get to some of the larger universities. In 1993, when my cousin applied to UVSC, I decided to call and register over the phone (because this was before online registration). I applied and told my parents the night before school started that I would be attending UVSC, and they enthusiastically agreed. When I started at the college, the classes were fun. I jumped in without planning much and ended up in a morning math class — a combination that wasn’t my favorite. There was a cute boy, however, that kept sitting in the back of the classroom. One day, after three weeks of class, he came up to me and asked if I wanted to go water skiing. I agreed and asked his name, and soon after we started dating. He taught me how to drop classes. He would say, “Oh, you’re not getting that? That’s OK, let’s drop it.” I kept dropping more and more classes, eventually moving away from school.

The man I was dating had a landscaping business that he had built since he was 8 years old. He had one child already so he was just in math, trying to get through school. He had been building his business for a long time, so we both focused on that. Eventually, we got married and slowly stopped taking any classes at all. After some difficulties with my husband’s prescription medicines, we lost everything we had for the landscaping business. Even though my husband had made a lot of money as a kid and a teenager, it wasn’t enough for us to get by. At that point, besides my stepdaughter we had two other daughters between the two of us. Then, one day the state came to my door and asked if I would raise my niece. I was young, broke, and was struggling to raise four children. During this time, debt collectors lived on our doorstep, and I was constantly worried that I wouldn’t be able to provide for my family.

It was during this time that I learned what it meant to need help, and I ferociously searched for support from my community. I called Ask a Nurse, and they taught me how to get on food stamps and helped with my basic needs. At this point, a kind neighbor told me about Help Me Grow Utah, a program of United Way of Utah County, that provided me with much-needed resources and support to help my children grow and develop. From that point, things started looking up. My husband and I purchased a cleaning and maintenance company that cleaned more than 30 million square feet of office space per night. We were able to grow the company from 90 employees to 2,500 over several years.

I had decided through my hardships that when I was successful, I would give back to my community. I felt so much happiness and gratification giving back to a community that had supported me when I needed it. Over the last 10 years, I met the most amazing people through constant service and giving back to my community. I had changed the trajectory of my life and felt immensely motivated to work to help other families in this area. I sit on the board of the chamber of commerce, as well as on the boards of several different nonprofit organizations in the area.

Throughout all of this, however, I always had the completion of my school on my mind. I had tried several times to reregister for school, taking a photography class and some others over the next few years. It was extremely hard to get back on campus, however, with our growing business, my service work, and my now eight children. The combination proved to be exceedingly difficult.

Though I was able to become successful in my work and professional life, finishing my degree was one of those things that had always driven me crazy. Then, three years ago, Dr. Susan Madsen began a Utah Women and Leadership project on campus at UVU that I became involved in. I spent several months working on the project and absolutely fell in love with the campus. This experience helped me break the ice of coming to campus. I was always so worried that it would be awkward to go to college because I was no longer 18 years old. I learned that this was not the case at UVU. I saw so many people around campus that were my same age and in similar situations to my own. I decided that it was now or never, so I re-enrolled at Utah Valley University three years ago.

I graduated in December with my Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Studies, with an emphasis in Psychology and Leadership. Since beginning school again, I was able to start a nonprofit called Humans Driving Change, where I put people on a bus and drive them around the community, showing where to find resources in this area. Additionally, I completed my integrated studies thesis on parenting resilience. The projects I worked on at UVU encapsulated exactly the things that I was interested in and already working on. The university doesn’t pressure you into some different mold of education — it embraces you for who you are and allows you to pursue your passions. Utah Valley University is driven by the students, supported by caring and loving faculty. If you are questioning whether to come back to school, my advice is to just do it. Get on campus and experience what it feels like to be part of such a wonderfully diverse student body. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Look for resources around the school that can help you achieve your dreams, and don’t give up. I had a time in my life where I lost so much, but I worked, came back, and succeeded at UVU. No matter what, there’s a place for you at UVU.