What colleges have you attended?

I attended two higher education institutions and covered maybe a half dozen during my past career as a journalist.

I attended North Carolina State University and Hocking College (Ohio), earning degrees from both schools that have prepared me for life beyond school.

I have covered various institutions of higher education while working in Ohio, West Virginia, Mississippi and North Carolina.

I went back to school during the pandemic and earned a certification in digital marketing and social media. It was a natural extension of what I did as a journalist. I use that special skill-blend in my current career in the public sector.

I still continue my education by going to classes and workshops on various things I enjoy and want to improve my skills on.

In college, I took classes that serve me now. My horror film class forced me to explore a movie genre I avoid but my youngest kid loves.

I learned that sitting in a classroom isn’t for me. My grade-point average sucked when I graduated college with my bachelor’s degree.

I tended to fall asleep during any class that was held either right after lunch or was in a boring lecture format.

I didn’t spend my time after school partying. I was working, sometimes until 2 a.m. some nights, at the student newspaper.

I pretty much lived there and tried a bit everything in terms of story assignments. I wanted the paper to represent everyone and I wanted to meet as many people from as many places as I could.

That degree was not a journalism degree but a related one, as North Carolina State University didn’t offer journalism degrees at the time.

Side note, I originally went to NC State to get a degree in architecture but got spooked by my Calculus class. I barely passed that class my first semester at the Raleigh campus. How was I going to take several more math classes and actually earn a degree?

My other degree is in culinary arts with a few certificates, one of which is bartending. I was top of my class and helped carry our discipline’s banner across the graduation stage.

I wanted to follow in my grandmother’s footsteps as a caterer and maybe parlay my journalism skills into being a food writer or helping edit or write cookbooks.

I catered one event by myself — my friend’s birthday party. I now make food for the blog and for my family and occasional potlucks and bake sales.

I loved culinary arts classes. Learning by doing — or not succeeding in doing — was great. I made ice sculptures, helped the college pull off fundraising events, and cooked for our in-campus restaurant.

I really wish I took up one of my professor’s offers to intern with her. I also had a chance to work with another chef, but I wasn’t able to commit to traveling to his restaurant on a regular basis.

Someone else took those opportunities and hopefully made the most of them. My education, and continued education, brought me here, to where I am now.

Looking back, I would have worked on being committed to living life rather than just working at the newspaper. I think if I did things, rather than just cover other people doing things, I would have a more fulfilling college experience.

But, the experience I had helped me prepare for a lifetime of continued learning in an effort to be the best I can be, although I still am not really sure what I want to be when I grow up.