I am thankful to be in school this semester after some uncertainty regarding finances. When we moved to Virginia we had enough money saved up for my entire year of schooling. However, because Andrew couldn’t find a job for so long we had to use that money to pay expenses. In October we began the process of finding out if I was eligible for financial aid. After many delays and problems I found out I was eligible for the Stafford Loan. We received this news only a few days before school began! (I noticed a pamphlet in the Financial Aid office that made me laugh. It said something to the effect of “Apply for Financial Aid is as easy as 1-2-3.â€)
I am almost done with two weeks of school. Trying to get back in the school mode is going slowly. Last Thursday school was cancelled because of snow. This past Monday there was no school because of the MLK holiday.
I am taking 13 credits again this semester. My undergraduate classes are Introduction to Audiology and Speech-Language Disorders: Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention. This later class is 4 credits and is supposed to teach me everything I know about therapy. The graduate students all speak highly of the class. My graduate classes are Motor Speech Disorders and Language Disorders in Children and Adolescents. I wanted to take another class, but my other two grad class options were offered at the same time my big undergraduate class is offered. As it is, I miss that class one day a week to attend Language Disorders. The chair of the department allowed me to do this in part because of my high grades last semester (all A’s!).
I am continuing my GA position for one of my teachers. She has 4 independent study students that she has turned over to me. I am responsible for them. My teacher keeps talking about how I am such a good writer and that she hopes I can help these students improve their writing. I requested a second GA position, and yesterday I found out one was available. I began training today as a worker in the Harvey Center. The Harvey Center is a small library in the building I am in all day. Things are run pretty similarly to the BJ library where I worked 5 summers. I work 10 hours a week there.
Andrew is still working his temporary job. They have downsized the group from 30 to 7. He is one of the faster workers, so the supervisor told him he could stay as long as he wanted. The job will probably continue several more months. There still aren’t many options for jobs around here. He is considering going to school full-time next year if he doesn’t get a better job by the fall. This way we can hurry up, graduate, and get out of the area. And of course once I’m done I’m pretty much guaranteed a job. Pray that we have wisdom in this decision.