Graduation

Graduation  (E) Writer's Cramp Entry January1, 2020 507 words #2209095 by Chris Breva

507 words

Prompt: "Write a short story or a poem about you or your character's happiest day in 2019."

My happiest day in 2019 was Friday December 13, 2019. It was the day my transcript at Marshall University shows me as graduating with my Regents Bachelor of Arts degree. For those who do not know what a Regents Bachelor of Arts is, it is similar to a high school diploma as it is essentially as general education degree. My RBA has an emphasis on Psychology as I have 78 hours of upper level psychology to my credit. I plan to apply all of that toward a Master of Social Work degree and eventually a doctorate degree in psychology. I do not plan to do therapy, but rather research. I have several ideas that I wish to formulate. I guess some people would call them "theories" but as my science instructors hammered home to me a theory is a hypothesis that has been tested and proven reliable over and over again. I have several hypotheses I wish to pursue and I am hoping my RBA will get me into graduate school so I can do so. I forgot to mention that along with my RBA I also hold an Academic Associate Degree (AAS) is Dependency Disorder Technology so needless to say my hypotheses concern addiction. I won't go into a lot of detail here because this article is not about hypotheses or addiction, but rather about the happiest day I had in 2019. I worked very hard for my RBA. It only took me 21 years to complete it as I originally started working toward it at Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg WV back in 1997. I had some problems with financial aid at OVU, which prompted me to take a long hiatus from college that lasted 16 years. Then circumstances changed and I was able to return to college at Marshall University in the fall of 2018 and completed my RBA during the fall semester 2019. My last final exam was completed on December 12, 2019 and the Dean of the Regents Program awarded my degree the following day. This made me very happy and very proud. I now use that education to work as a peer support specialist at the Salvation Army Huntington Corps in Huntington WV where I am the Community Care Ministries Secretary, Men's Club Treasurer, Adult Sunday School teacher, and Corps Welcome Sergeant. I enjoy my work, even though at times it requires long hours. For example, throughout December I worked eight hours per day in the Social Services Office, then spent another six hours each night in the administration office receiving Angel Tree donations and helping straighten, sort, and count the money raised by our bell ringers during our Red Kettle Campaign. All ofit gave me the opportunity to do what I love to do the most: serve the public and help meet needs. None of this would have been possible without the happiest day I had in 2019!

Marvin D. Schrebe, AAD RBA