Alumni Perspective: Finding your path

By Emily Spangler

My university education is something I take great pride in. I am also very transparent with my experiences: I put trust in myself and others to support my educational career to get where I am at 23.

I am a Sterling native. I attended Sterling High School and at the beginning of my senior year, I started my university career at Sauk Valley Community College. I was surrounded by students older than me whose backgrounds were varied. I spent a year and a half at SVCC, where I learned the baseline of how to be a good student. However, I had no idea of where I wanted to attend for the next year and a half to pursue my bachelor’s degree. Eventually, I applied to Roosevelt University and I was accepted. 

Moving to Chicago was one of the biggest risks of my life. My move forced me to put myself in spaces I hadn’t been to before, challenging my thoughts on social issues, and to learn what city life was like. During my time at Roosevelt, I took courses in urban policy and poverty policy; both of which opened my eyes immensely to the world around me. 

By the time I was about to graduate, I struck up a conversation with a woman about my educational goals. I told the woman I wanted to pursue a master’s in public policy, focusing on transportation. She informed me she worked for the Dean of the Urban Planning and Public Affairs department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Imagine that! She set up a meeting between the Dean and I to discuss my interests. I walked into the meeting with an open mind on what I wanted my future to look like. An hour later, the Dean walked me to the registrar’s office to register for the upcoming semester – which started 3 weeks later! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I often do things on a whim and trust myself (and the world) to work out the kinks. I also put a lot of hard work into my professional and educational career. 

I am currently a second-year graduate student, and this is my insight.

The first day was the most difficult. I knew no one, I felt inadequate, and was lost on campus. A year later, I have met other students with similar interests as me. I can discuss intergovernmental agreements between municipalities who provide transportation shared services to their communities. I did not know what this meant until I started graduate school, though. It took a lot of patience, projects, networking, and critical thinking to get here.

I have never worked at such an accelerated learning level until now. At first, it is daunting and overwhelming. However, balance is necessary to take care of yourself, those around you, your career, and education.

The courses are meant to be so challenging that your thought process on the way you view the world changes. You become a strong critical thinker and opinions often change on many subjects. You realize that taking a step back before jumping to a conclusion is necessary.

Finally, every graduate student contemplates dropping out more than we would like to admit. Don’t. Graduate students commit to their degree because they care about what direction they want their life to go in. The process to get this degree wasn’t made to be easy and not everything will come natural to you. But nothing comes natural to the smartest and most accomplished individuals.

I have never felt so fulfilled in my ability to complete course assignments and power through new information so quickly. Many students are not fully aware of their own talents until put to the task. I could have not dreamt of going to graduate school if it wasn’t for Sauk Valley Community College. 

As current and former SVCC students understand, education is essential for personal and professional growth. Explore your options and surround yourself with a goal-oriented support system. It wasn’t in my wildest dreams to get a master’s degree when I started at SVCC at 17. At 23, I have no regrets. The thing is, I never made excuses to not do something. Will you make any excuses?