First of all I don't know why we say we are going back for that degree...shouldn't we say we are going forward? When is it too late to return to school to finish your degree?
I faced that question in 2013 when I was 52 and realized that my career was in survival rather than thriving mode. Many rational and sensible voices from family, friends and even internal neigh-sayers kept telling me not to pursue an educational degree in my 50's, especially in the Fine Arts. For those of you who know me, you will understand how negativity and limitations are only dares for me. I have been known to be a little stubborn and persistent when told I am limited by my gender, age or socio-economic status.
Returning to college after 25 years was not easy emotionally or physically. I was not completely prepared for the all-nighters, extensive reading, myriad visits to the local art museums and memorization for art history. I wanted to get a degree that I was passionate about and for me that has always been in the arts. This dream began when I was five years old and received a gold and silver star for drawing my teacher's portrait in a small box for an image that started with "T." The accolades is all it took at five years old and I knew that was my calling.
My degree took a little longer to finish than I expected as I entered with an Associates degree and figured I just needed my final two years. Due to the different direction in my degree it took me a total of 3-1/2 years to finish my Bachelor of Fine Arts. I was so proud to graduate Summa Cum Laude with my GPA of 3.87 in April of 2017. I had incredible support from my husband who had to pick up the slack for me since I was a full time student and worked multiple part time jobs. My children were always inspirational and very proud of me when I graduated. My degree did not come without a steep price of my time away from my family and so when I refer to sacrifice for this degree I am referring to my family's sacrifice.
So now that Kim Miller has her BFA where will she go? Disney was not the first answer as I was not able to afford a trip to Disney. I never really questioned my employment opportunities while going to school and never did research about the prospects based on my age or gender. I had always been creative in getting jobs and did not think of the arts as bias in any way, after all, most artists are flying by the seat of their pants and are generally venture seekers who go up against social norms. I had always chosen the unbeaten path when it came to jobs. I served in the Navy for 8 years of active duty, owned my own children's boutique, wrote and illustrated a children's book that was published in 2010, worked as a muralist for residential and commercial jobs and taught art in private schools and after school programs. I was fearless in pursuing everything - all without a college degree...so how much harder could it be with a degree I asked myself.
My first opportunity after graduation was teaching art to over 400 students from Kindergarten through 8th grade in a charter school located in Middleburg, Florida. This was not an easy job but proved rewarding with some really great students and challenging with others. This job helped me with financial needs and helped tremendously with my daughter's wedding in March of 2018. I had to decide whether I wanted to take math courses for my General Knowledge test to qualify for my second year of teaching. I decided that I did not want to teach in the public school system bad enough to learn math after 30 years of being away from it. I also came to realize that the arts do have a gender bias and definitely felt that society has an age preference for gallery and museum positions. So how does a 56 year old woman overcome those obstacles? She starts a non-profit organization that supports women artists at any age, race, religion or stage of their life and works multiple jobs to support that new dream.
I graduated from college as the Executive Director and Founder of FemArt Gallery with two other women. This was a great opportunity to use all of my newly gained wisdom, my managerial experience and Navy leadership skills to work in my degree with all of the passion I have had for art throughout my life. What a great idea! Oh...but even with all of my attributes and drive I soon realized that non-profits depend solely on funding and reinvesting profits without any position salaries for a few years. This meant I needed to continue working multiple jobs and getting low wages until the non-profit grew. This is how I found out that women are not properly represented in Director positions in the arts and are often not paid even close to what men make in non-profits. As I continued to get more educated about inequalities in the arts I also became stronger in my fight for women's rights and developed our education program to begin teaching preschoolers about the many women artists who paved the way for women artists today. Again, I faced adversity and charged straight ahead. This is where my persistence and hard work thrive.
Most people who have college degrees do not always pursue careers in their degrees nor do they always find happiness in their professions. I have heard stories of highly successful lawyers all of a sudden opening an ice cream store or even a President of the United States (George W. Bush) taking up painting after leaving a high stress job. We all make decisions from time to time that help us get through stagnant careers or highly stressful jobs and our hope is to find inner peace with our choices. So I needed to ask myself if being an artist with a degree is finding me peace at this stage of the game and my resounding response is YES!
Was it worth it for me to get this degreed at the age of 57 years old? Absolutely! I learned so much about my passion for art and have more confidence in professional settings whether I am in an art show or talking to artists or board members of my non-profit. There is a lot of stress related to my education loans and lack of income at this time, but overall, the knowledge and personal feeling of achievement far outweigh the finances. Would I prefer not to have the debt and still have the knowledge - Absolutely! It was a risk I was willing to take and I have no regrets.
What brings me most joy about getting my degree has been the professional recognition I have had when I tell people I have a BFA and just graduated in 2017. Of course the first thing they begin to ask themselves is how hard is college now a days if it ages you that much? But seriously, I hear all of the time the pride of young people who tell me their mothers went back to school and their comments are always followed by how proud they are, or a person tells me that left college and want to go back. My education was a gateway to so many opportunities. Starting a non-profit for women artists was the best opportunity of all. I don't just tell women that they can do anything but I show them that they can. I am still working hard to in many jobs but have total confidence that just like my education, the hard work will pay off in the future. My degree has helped me to cultivate a better society with unified women's voices that are now being heard in our society because I went for my college degree when others told me it would be a waste of time at my age.
I highly recommend all people of any age to pursue higher education, whether it be skill building, undergraduate, graduate or multiple degrees. Returning to school is so rewarding in so many ways. I mentioned early in this article about the challenges emotionally and physically but I believe that challenges are catalysts for changes. Each time I learned something new I knocked down a small part of a wall that was blocking my vision. At times it was painful and exhausting but the feedback or the A on my paper or art would create so much pride in myself. Even the negative feedback helped me to push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of doing. I believe that the studying and reading has helped my long term memory as I recalled my past more readily. Just as exercise is important to keep in physical shape, education definitely rejuvenates the mind with regular workouts. As I often heard in the 80's - no pain, no gain!
One of my most favorite responses to aging and furthering education was best said in a Dear Abby column - One woman inquired if Dear Abby thought she was too old to go back to school, since she would be 40 when she received her undergraduate degree.
Dear Abby responded along these lines: How old will you be in four years if you dont get your degree? You are going to be 40 anyway with or without your degree.
Please let me know how you feel about this blog and tell me if you agree with self-development at any age.
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