You’re never too old they say and I’ve lived my life that way long enough to know it’s actually true. As I promised in my last blog piece, let me catch everyone up (who doesn’t follow me on Facebook) with what I’ve been doing. I’ve been incredibly busy, but have to say that I’m having fun (no surprise to my friends who know I always like to have fun 😉 ). In August 2018, I went back to college (for the first time in quite a while) at the University of Guam.
I jumped in with both feet and took 16 semester hours my first semester back in school. By some estimates that’s the equivalent of working a 50-60 hour a week job (2-3 hours of study time for every hour in class). This semester I worked on some general education requirements. I completed courses in Math, Geography, Environmental Biology, Critical Thinking, and Literature. I completed requirements for English Composition, Speech, Psychology, Economics, and U.S. Government the last time I was a full-time college student. I finished the semester with a 3.769 GPA… enough for the Deans List 🙂
Another reason for being so busy was that I continued teaching the occasional scuba course on the side although not as many due to my class load. I was so busy with school that even that stopped and I ended up not diving at all during the last month of the semester! Some of this I think was self-inflicted as I was trying to figure out how to best organize my time to accomplish everything. I found that I’d gotten a bit rusty with time management since I retired 🙂
The next semester will be starting January 23rd. I’ll be taking Introductory Algebra (still catching up in math), Principles of Biology I, Marine Biology, and another Geography course. I’m currently a Biology major, but I’m looking at transferring to a school where I can major in Marine Biology. Although the University of Guam has a well regarded Marine Laboratory that attracts graduate students from all over the world, they do not (a bit surprisingly) have a Marine Biology degree program. The top of my list at the moment is Texas A&M-Galveston which is one of the top schools for Marine Biology and Marine Science in the United States. My plan (always subject to change) right now is to stay in Guam at least until next year and continue to work on core requirements for a BS degree. In the fall I’ll be taking Algebra and Trigonometry, Principles of Biology II, General Genetics, and General Chemistry. If I get into TAMU-G I should be able to finish my BS in Marine Biology with a minor in Diving Technology and Methods by 2023. That still gives me plenty of time to do a third career 🙂
Once I’ve completed my degree I will likely go on to complete a Masters, and expect to be involved in research and teaching. I could easily see myself returning to Guam but we’ll see. I expect education to open up more opportunities for me to pursue my passion and that there will be many more underwater adventures in the years to come 🙂
That’s it for the update 🙂 I’m working on another post now for my “Choosing Equipment” series. That post will be about choosing a BCD. I’ll also be working on a post or two about the diving here in Guam, so stay tuned 🙂