Class of 2009: Dalnews profiles some of the 2,700 graduates who'll walk across the stage of the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium during Spring Convocation, May 19 to 27.
 |
| Nicole Adams |
Going back to school after a decade is not an easy decision. Doing it as a newly-single mother of two young children would be unthinkable to many, but not Nicole Adams.
鈥淚 need benchmarks,鈥� says Ms. Adams, who is completing the College of Continuing Education鈥檚 Transition Year Program. 鈥淚 need to know what the next benchmark is and when I hit it, I make a new one. My goal was always to move to the next best opportunity.鈥�
After years of job hopping, and with the support of her family, Ms. Adams is redirecting her life towards the goal she鈥檚 had since she was 12 years old: to become a doctor.
Getting used to being a student again wasn鈥檛 as hard as she expected: 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a single mom and used to running a household, the workload doesn鈥檛 take all that much adjustment,鈥� she laughs. 鈥淭he biggest change was opening my mind to critical thinking, learning to challenge and discuss what I was being presented with.鈥�
Her next benchmark is a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology and biochemistry with neuroscience as a second major. Her interest in medicine is personal: she hopes to study neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that runs in her family.
鈥淚 believe that the best way to give back to society is to give something that means everything to people: their health, their well-being, their life,鈥� she says. 鈥淐ontributing to biological and medical science is the best way for me to do that.鈥�