A second try at college degree

College was just so much fun the first time around I've decided to go back.

Actually I've decided to go back because I want to get another degree -- this time in education.

When I started college in the fall of 1997 I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so I chose a field I thought I would enjoy and succeed in. I chose elementary education.

After a semester I decided I didn't want to do that anymore.

The next semester I had about 10 different majors including gerontology, family life, nutrition and finally journalism.

By the end of the semester I decided I liked journalism the best, so I enrolled for a full semester of journalism courses.

The next three years flew by, and before I knew it I was putting on my black polyester robe and black mortarboard and heading to the Show Me Center for graduation.

I remember that day well.

Maybe it was because I was nervous about entering the real world, or that I secretly knew I had made the wrong decision three years earlier, but either way as we headed out the door I told my dad: "Dad, I don't think I want to be a journalist anymore. I want to be a teacher."

I looked at him with a sly grin as if I were asking, "So, what do you think? Can I have $20,000?"

He looked at me and chuckled. "OK. But I'm not paying for it."

So I entered the real world. I took a job at a small daily newspaper in Dyersburg, Tenn.

It was an OK job. The people were nice, but there was just no one in the town my age. My only friend was my orange-and-white kitten that I bought to keep me company.

When a job for a reported opened up at the Southeast Missourian, I was on the phone before the job was posted in the help wanted ads.

The job was for the education reporter, which I thought would be great because even though I wouldn't be teaching I would still be able to be in the schools and interacting with the kids.

I was right. It was great.

The only thing was, being in the schools and working with the teachers and administrators made me want to be a teacher even more.

That's why I've decided I better go back to school now before I'm 60 years old and still regretting never doing it.

I figure now is the best time to do it because I'm still only 23 years old and still single. When I get married in a couple years and have kids I won't be able to afford to be in debt because of student loans.

The unfortunate thing about my return to school as a non-traditional student is that I won't be able to be a reporter anymore because I won't have time to do both.

That means this will be my last Kronicle.

It's been fun the last few months talking about my hero, Martha Stewart, and complaining about bugs and smutty television, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

I guess all I have left to say before my words are wiped from the pages of the Southeast Missourian forever is: Thanks for reading my stuff. I know a lot of the things I wrote about only pertained to my family and me, but it's been fun. Thanks for letting me share my memories and I hope we'll meet again -- maybe when I'm an award-winning author of a children's series of books about a cow named Fred and his many adventures.

Until then, take care.

Heather Kronmueller is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.