Interdisciplinary Studies Personal Impact Statement

I first learned about the IDS program during my New Student Orientation advising when I entered Boise State with an undeclared major. After considering my options throughout my whole first semester, I decided that Interdisciplinary Studies would be the best fit for me. I believe this will help define my experience at Boise State and help me craft an IDS degree that is tailored to the intersections of education I wanted to explore: Writing and Leadership, Environmental Studies, and Communications. Above all, I will learn how to look at the same situation from multiple perspectives, which will make me a better reader, communicator, environmentalist, and learner. I am applying to the Interdisciplinary Studies program to have diversity in my course load and flexibility in my scheduling in order to be more involved on campus.

My passion has always been teaching, and my greatest strength has always been teaching math. To pursue this professionally, I need to obtain a college degree. A college degree will be beneficial in helping me improve my teaching skills, my people skills, and simply my ability to continue to be a lifelong learner, even outside of an organized class setting. By the end of my college career, I believe I will have obtained the tools I need to become the well-rounded educator I strive to be.

I have been through a lot since I was 18 and have continued to move forward in school despite my shortcomings. I want to be able to look back and say that I did it and have a degree to show for it. I want to be able to make my son and husband proud! Since I have so many credits from completing two different associates, I am hoping this will help me to continue to move forward and accomplish my goals. I have a bunch of different credits and am looking for the best option to graduate and continue to study what interests me.

I did not graduate high school. I joined the United States Navy and earned my GED through Olympic College in Washington while I was stationed on a Ballistic Missile Submarine. I struggled through school and after joining the Navy discovered that I had dyslexia. With some classes and training I was able to work through it and graduated in the top 3 of my Navy “C” school. Now at 48, I am ready to prove to myself that I can earn my bachelor’s degree and walk across the stage at Boise State University.

I started working when I was sixteen years old and have been at it for almost twenty-four years now. Looking back at the experiences I have garnered I can’t bring myself to regret the path that I took. While I’ve been very successful, I’ve come to a crossroad in my career, and have very purposely positioned myself to a place where I am able and ready to finish what I started more than twenty years ago. I feel like my education will have a direct benefit to how I am performing my job, and this shift in perception will allow me to place the importance on my education that it has always deserved.

I started working when I was fourteen years old and have a lot of experience from banking and office settings, to the Idaho Legislature. There are many times I have been overlooked for promotions because of the lack of an undergraduate degree. It has caused many roadblocks in my career and personal life and has cost me a great deal. I am now at crossroads with my career requiring a degree to advance. Another motivation for me is to set the example for my family about the importance of having a college degree.