The Beginning of Graduate School

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Like most young people who are venturing into the world on their own for the first time, I held a deeply-seated belief that I wanted to do something more with my life. However, the trauma I endured as a result of childhood bullying forced me to leave high school in 2007. I would officially drop out of school, which I attended online after a traumatic happening, when I turned sixteen, all with the intent of taking my GED at some point in the future.

Unfortuntely, I would spend the next two years struggling with PTSD from the events that occurred during high school, and would eventually move to Austin, Texas to not only escape the hardships I endured in Southeastern Idaho, but to forge my own path in the world.

The story that occurs between the time I landed in Austin and the time I entered community college is one of struggle. With an undiagnosed mental illness consuming my emotional state, I would not have the means to complete my GED until the fall of 2010. I would then enroll in Austin Community College in 2011, where I would complete a full semester (roughly three classes) before realizing that I did not have a clearly set goal in mind.

Fast forward eight years, and much struggle, later, to the year 2019. My roommates and I had just moved to Edinburg, Texas, after spending four years in Fort Worth. I told myself before the big cross-state move that I would attend the community college in the area when I arrived, with the future intent to teach at the top of my list of priorities.

The only problem? I was still consumed by anxieties surrounding the public, and I fizzled out after attending community college for only a few days.

My shame over this matter would consume me. How, I wondered, was I going to do this? I would dwell on this question for some time—and would continue to lament my problems with social anxiety both with friends locally and those online—

Until one day, a friend would ask me, Why not try going to school online?

The thought had never occurred to me. I had never envisioned taking even one class, let alone a whole degree's worth, from home. However, the fire of curiosity was ignited, and I would eventually land at an online university.

Unfortunately, I applied blindly. The university, though accredited, didn't have the degree program I truly wanted to undertake. I ended up taking three classes (roughly 9 credits) of courses, and continued to search for alternatives...

Which led me to Southern New Hampshire University's undergraduate program in Creative Writing and English.

For the next six years, I would work as hard as I possibly could in order to complete my degree. I experienced immense hardship during 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced not just me, but the rest of the world, into turmoil we could never imagine. I would lose my first cat—Jezabelle, who was my first pet I owned as an adult man—in May of that year, and then my father, who would unexpectedly die on Halloween night. These hardships would weigh heavily on me throughout the following year. Still, I persevered, and continued to work on my degree.

While a car accident that occurred two years later in 2022 would throw another hurdle in my path, I continued to work diligently on my degree until the mid part of 2024, at which point I realized my funding would run out (due to a variety of combinations.) My advisor at Southern New Hampshire University recommended the Sophia Learning platform, which would allow me to fill out my remaining elective courses. I would then resume my last class at the university at the end of 2024.

At the end of that year, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southern New Hampshire University, with a 3.8 GPA.

Unfortunately, my path to graduate school was not as clear-cut as I wanted it to be. When the flooding event that occurred in the Rio Grande Valley in late March 2025 displaced me from the home I lived in with my roommates, I was forced to return to Southeastern Idaho, the place I once came to hate.

One night, while discussing the events that had occurred with my friend and former roommate, Rhiannon Frater, I lamented the fact that I would probably not be able to start graduate school for some time.

You should try and get in now, while you still have momentum, she told me.

Though fearing the worst, I reached out to Southern New Hampshire University to inquire about their graduate school programs—specifically, their Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I found out, after just a single phone call, that I would not have to raise funds on my own. I qualified for additional financial aid as a graduate student. That sealed my decision in an instant.

On June 9th, 2025, I will begin my journey as a graduate student at Southern New Hampshire University, where I will be able to complete my degree, which will then allow me to teach creative writing at the college level.

I will admit that I am scared. I will confess that I am as nervous as I can possibly be. Juggling school alongside my work as a freelance writer will undoubtedly be difficult, especially given the health challenges I face. However, teaching creative writing online has been a dream of mine for almost ten years now, and I am not intending to let anything stop me.

In roughly two weeks, I will log into Southern New Hampshire's online portal, and begin my work as a graduate student.

This journey has been a long time coming. However, I am ready to face this challenge, and rise to the occasion in the process.