Adult Learner Services

Anita De Cruyenaere

Good afternoon, my name is Anita De Cruyenaere and it is indeed my pleasure to speak to you today about my experiences as a professional business woman, mother, wife and an adult learner.

[After working and studying in the insurance field, being a people person,] I made the best decision of my educational career and moved onto the Management Studies Certificate and Human Resource Diploma Program at UW Professional, Applied and Continuing Education (PACE).  I realized then that I loved going to school with my peers and I loved the challenge of learning.

After completing these programs, I decided to pursue a degree.I was accepted into the Bachelor of Arts program at UW in the fall of 2006 and I declared my major as Business Administration.

As luck would have it, 21 credit hours were transferred from my PACE Programs into my BA.Whew, that was a large chunk gone right there! At that time, I was also fortunate to meet a wonderful new student advisor at UW, Stephanie Rozzi, who has counseled me and answered my never ending questions about how to get a degree. She met with me anytime I asked and this was often throughout the years. She kept me on track and encouraged me every step of the way.

I must admit to all of you today that my first courses were tough in that I felt out of place and like I was the oldest person in the entire class. Many times I actually was and even the professor was younger than I was.

Another huge worry that I encountered was the first time a professor said to the room, “split yourselves up into groups.”Well, I just about died! What young person would want an old lady like me on their team? I was mortified and I sat with my head down wondering what I was going to do and frantically tried to work out a way to ask the professor if I could work alone.

But, much to my surprise, delight and astonishment, as I raised my head I saw a small group of students standing in front of me. They all had the same look on their faces, a look of apprehension and worry; they all looked like I felt.

The students explained to me that they were drawn to me because of my age, my potential for extreme knowledge and their perceived impression of my openness to work with anyone from any age group and any cultural background. Wow, that’s what I projected onto them…I was so thrilled; I think I must have had a permanent smile on my face that entire evening. And so I have continued for the entire 6 years.

[When Stephanie first told me that there was no time constraint on obtaining my degree and said I could take 10 years if need be,]I laughed and snorted to myself,Humph, I will be done well before that!Yeah right, little did I know that working full time, having a homelife; a husband and two children meant that I could not always take as many courses as I thought I could. I could only take courses in the evenings and I could not take courses that would mean I’d miss out on things with my kids.

It meant missed terms and missed opportunities for courses that had to be taken at a later time. It also sometimes meant taking more than one course per term to catch up for the missed terms.Evenings were full of sports and homework and on more than one occasion I used my strong marks to motivate my kids. If Mom can do all this and still get a B+, there is no reason you kids can’t do it too!

My kids hated that but it did spur them on, and they were both successful in their education. They also loved the time we spent at our large dining room table doing homework together and discussing the many topics I studied. From human geography to criminal justice to ethics in the workplace, there was never a dull moment in my home and everyone got to voice their opinion. My children grew up learning of these topics as I did.

I can honestly say that I never took a course that I regretted and I never took a course I didn’t pass! Whew!

All in all though, my degree has been a very positive experience, it has built my self-esteem, my confidence, stimulated my business savvy and my creativity to find new ideas and new ways of doing old things too. It has taught me to be open to the youth and to enjoy their new ideas and creativity.

I must admit that I did not complete this journey alone, my family’s support was immeasurable and a spouse who supports you and picks up the slack at home for you is worth his or her weight in gold.My workplace supported me and even provided me with the gift of time, which is ever so precious.My student advisor Stephanie was a constant source of information and support, encouraging me every time we met.

And of course, I had to be committed and I had to enjoy it and fortunately for me, I had all of these factors in place and I succeeded very well! I am very proud of myself and I would do it all over again in a minute. Master’s program, Here I Come!

I wish you all the same successes that I have experienced and I know that if you stick to it, meet with your student advisor regularly and find a good support system from home and work, you will do just fine and you will become an integral part of your workplace and our society. Good Luck to all of you!

Thank you very kindly!