As a non-traditional student, not unusual for my particular university, there are a lot of challenges that the traditional 18-22 year old student won't come across in their studies. Some of these difficulties can be balancing academic life with work due to a lack of parental support. Some may include responsibilities involved with raising children. Other difficulties may arise from the fact that many classes are geared towards those that have little to no life experience outside of the American educational system. 

For me, I have encountered all of these challenges throughout my experience in college so far. I started my degree in 2014 at the age of … well, I was already older than most of the students I am taking classes with now. At that time I was already out on my own for several years, living largely independently of my family back home and excited to start my studies. While in college in 2014 I met the person that I would marry and begin a family with. 

During my second year in college I had decided to put my education on hold while I settled down with my new spouse. Within a few years of marriage we decided to have children and I decided to return to college. After having taken a class during the gestation of our first child I had decided that I was not quite ready to return and do the parenthood thing at the same time, so on hold my education went again.

I had planned on only waiting a semester to or two to get back into college, but my first child was born in the summer of 2019. So, I waited out the majority of the ongoing global health crisis while raising my firstborn. Moving on to late 2021, I was getting ready to return to school again when my partner announced that we would be having a second child… This time, I was ready though. I returned to classes in the spring semester of 2022, mere weeks before the expected due date of my second child, albeit at a reduced course load to ease into the situation. 

©2022 Z Griggs

Raising two children who still drink from spill-proof containers hasn't been easy, but it has been manageable. This gave me optimism for increasing my course load. So, over the summer of 2022 I took twelve credit hours worth of courses and began potty training my older child. Aside from a brief hiccup with COVID while trying to read and analyze a play for a six page paper, the summer went swimmingly.

So, this bring us to the current semester of college. I am raising two children, maintaining a healthy relationship with my partners and attending classes full time. On top of this, I have taken on the responsibilities of editing a publication for one of the departments in my school. Please come along with me on this journey as I continue to learn and grow as both a student and as a human being.