By Virginia Grady
My name is Virginia Grady, and I am a student and a mother pursuing a degree in recreational therapy. While attending college at East Carolina University, I faced many of the challenges that traditional college students face. I had to work to establish my own sense of independence and learn to manage my time and responsibilities, challenges I’m sure others find relatable.
However, I’ve also faced some non-traditional challenges. Having a child in college changes things and my son has been a big part of my educational experience. I have to think of my son with every decision I make and I can’t make choices based solely on what I want. During my time at East Carolina University, I traveled a lot between Greenville and Wilmington where my son lives, because I didn’t want him to feel abandoned, and I wanted to ensure I was spending enough time with him. Unfortunately, prioritizing my son meant I had less time to focus on certain aspects of school.
I also have ADHD, a learning disorder that makes college significantly more challenging. While it might take other students an hour to study something, it could take me three hours to cover that same subject matter. Despite this challenge, academic success has always been a priority for me because I want to give my son the life he deserves, and to do that I need to finish school.
While at school, I attended on-campus tutoring and office hours whenever I could, and those were very helpful. It’s a huge asset to have someone to study with or just have someone who can answer my questions and help me process things.
Chegg is another resource I used just about every day, because it helps a lot with my ADHD and makes studying easier. I used Chegg most days in class and while I was studying or making myself study guides. Chegg’s online textbooks are especially helpful for me, because reading textbooks is a challenge with my ADHD, and I often struggle to find particular passages. However, with an online textbook, I can search for specific text, which is really helpful for finding the key information I need to study. Utilizing Chegg in this way has definitely contributed to my academic success.
Succeeding academically is very important to me, because in order to do what I want in life, which is work in recreational therapy, I need a degree. I’m passionate about recreational therapy, because it provides so many different ways to help people better their lives, not just mentally but physically as well, and holistically helps them as a whole person. As a recreational therapist, I would get to work with individuals with special needs, in addition to individuals in the prison system, mental health facilities, and rehab centers. By achieving academic success and receiving my degree, I will have the opportunity to help all kinds of people while ensuring my son has the life he deserves.
