Help James Complete His Education Jounrey

Hi, my name is James, and I am just finishing up the Literature MA program at Eastern Michigan University. I’ve completed all the necessary coursework and even got to walk in the graduation ceremony. All I have left is to finish a few odds and ends, and this leg of my educational journey will be complete. So, instead of holding an open house, I decided to launch this GoFundMe to help cover some outstanding educational costs and day-to-day expenses as I find a position in my field. It has been my dream for a long time now to work in the field of education, and I wish to be a college professor someday. Throughout my academic career, I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to experience firsthand just how impactful and fulfilling teaching on the high school and middle school level can be, so while my long-term goal is to still teach at the collegiate level, teaching in secondary education is still very much an option.

If you have a few minutes, I would like to tell the story of how I got to this point. It’s not a long tale, but it is a bit unusual if I say so myself. It has been a long journey to get where I am, with plenty of winding turns along the way, so it might make for a fun read if you have the time. If not, no worries. I will just put a quick TL;DR version at the end. Feel free to skip to that.

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I hadn’t always valued education as much as I do now. Hell, I didn’t even finish high school traditionally and instead got my GED at 17. From there, I stayed with family for a bit until I bounced around from place to place, job to job, until I worked at a restaurant for most of my 20s. During that time, I had also attempted to attend community college, but, like many young people, I was unprepared for the rigors and commitment of seeking higher education. After a year of less-than-stellar academic performance, I was out of school for what seemed to be for good.

That's not to say I didn't have fun. But life can't be all ballpark beers and man purses.

Yet, there was still something that told me that I needed to try again. While the restaurant job was full of good people, I was barely getting by, and it never seemed as if I could save enough to pay off my outstanding school fees and return to class. After a couple of years of this cycle, I had an epiphany that would become one of the hallmarks of my life: “Great Change Requires Great Catalyst.” If I wanted my life to change in any remarkable way, I would need to do something remarkable to jumpstart that change. So, at 29 years old, in the middle of what would be a 20-year war, I decided that I needed to join the US Army and use the benefits provided to return to school.

I did have a little education at the time so I knew I had to research each branch and component to see what combination would give me the best option to return to college as soon as possible, and to my surprise, it was the Army National Guard that fill those requirements the best. With both state and federal assistance, I could be back in a classroom full-time in less than a year. But joining the National Guard still meant attending Army Basic Combat Training, so on a plane and off to Fort Jackson, I went. BCT isn’t easy when you’re 19, so let me tell you, it was a challenge at 29. I even managed to shatter my ankle while I was there (a lingering injury I still feel to this day). Still, I managed to pull through and start what would be a 9-year adventure in the Michigan National Guard, stations with the 1073rd maintenance company out of Greenville, MI.

I love how they give soldiers weapons and expect us not to pose for selfies with them.

During my time as a small arms repairer, I served with some of the most remarkable people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. We came from all different walks of life and had vastly different views on the world, but I learned just as much from working with them as I did from attending classes. In my civilian life, I would have never become friends with such people simply because their life at home was so different from mine, but here in the guard, I would find myself shoulder to shoulder with farmers, tradespeople, office workers, business people, cooks, and a slew of other people that, when called on, would put aside all those titles and become a single unit of soldiers, dedicated to completing whatever task was asked of them. Unlikely of a group we may be, I am proud to still call all of them my friends.

I may not see them much anymore, and this picture may be a bit old. But these are just some of my people, and I love and miss the life out of them.

While I was serving in the Guard, I was also attending classes once more. I returned to my local community college, Lansing Community College, and functionally restarted my program there. I graduated with an Associate’s Degree in education before transferring to Eastern Michigan University. Instead of moving to Ypsilanti, I decided to commute to class in order to stay closer to my family, friends, and support systems that helped me get this far. The commute ended up being a series of bus rides from Lansing to East Lansing, To Ann Arbor, To Ypsilanti that would roughly add up to 3 hours each way twice to 3 times a week. I would do that commute for four years as I worked my way through a Bachelor of Science degree in Language, Literature, and Writing. While I intended to go to EMU to become a secondary education teacher, military funding and timing had their limits. I decided to drop the education portion of my degree and get my teaching certification post-graduation. But the funny thing was, the more I studied language arts, the more intrigued I became with the complex theory behind them. So, instead of applying to the school of education to become a Middle School teacher, I applied to the school of English with the new hopes of one day becoming a professor.

Me and my mom during my undergrad graduation ceremony. Also, right before her diagnosis, now that I think about it...

That was three years ago. And I must say the last three years have been some of the most challenging of my life. During my first semester of Grad School and right before the onset of the Pandemic, my mother was diagnosed with Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Disease, a rare form of the disease that expresses itself much earlier than usual, most commonly in one’s 50s but has been known to express itself as early as one’s 30s. As the name suggests, this version is a dominant gene mutation, so since my mother had it, there was a 50 percent chance that I also had it. At this point, I was ten years younger than when my mom started showing signs (she had me very young at 17), so if I did have it, I could only count on one more unafflicted decade. Testing for the gene takes months, and the waiting can be incredibly stressful at times. I wish I could say that such stress didn’t affect my studies or life, but that would be far from the truth. Thankfully, my test came back negative, but dealing with waiting and the Pandemic did take a toll on me.

On a lighter note, I got to study in Italy during Grad school right before the Pandemic. On a darker note, I tried growing my afro back out during that trip.

Despite all that, I was able to finish all my coursework (with a 3.9 GPA, no less) and get to the point I am at today. I have met wonderful people, had amazing mentors, and even had the chance to share what I learned with a student or two. It has been a fantastic journey, and I am looking forward to the next phase, be it using what I’ve learned to teach now or move on to a Ph.D. program to teach at the highest level of education. Not too bad for a former busboy and wrench-monkey.

I don't know why I am making this derpy face in this picture, either. Those black robes do look good on me, though...

TL;DR:

Hi, I'm James. I am starting this GoFundMe to help cover my final tuition bill from my Master's program in Literature at Eastern Michigan University. Due to several factors, the final tuition bill came to just around 2,500 dollars. Until this balance is cleared to zero, I can't request an official transcript. This means I can't apply for specific jobs that require proof of my educational accomplishments or complete any Ph.D. applications since they all ask for official transcripts as part of their application packets. I would like to use the additional money to help me with day-to-day expenses as well as with the additional cost that comes with finding career options within the educational field.