A blog post from SOLES MA in Higher Education Leadership Studies Ambassador Juleane Johnson

Five years. It took five years for me to transition between undergrad and graduate school.

Hello everyone, my name is Juleane Johnson and this is my first year serving as a SOLES Ambassador and second year in the Higher Education Leadership, M.A. program. I am actually writing this to you after it was intended.

I am a full-time employee and a full-time graduate student this semester and do wish that I could switch my predicament. I say this to say, if I could be a part-time employee and full-time student like I was during my undergraduate career, I would. The levels and shifts in responsibilities, expectations, and tasks all boil down to my having to be much more critical and careful of my day-to-day functions and operations. However, inevitably, I will miss or drop something though I cannot afford to. Those five years have brought me to a place where I know what I’m chasing after. I am in tune with the depth and gravity of my practitioner work, research, and aims. The nature of where I am employed (Residence Life), calls for flexibility. There are evening and weekend obligations and commitments that are parallel when I would utilize time toward studying or reading.

Re-entering into student life, to student mode, there is much more on the line, much more at stake, much more at risk. Every day I am learning and building up my resiliency and aptitude to not just complete what’s expected, but do so at my greatest potential.