I thought it would be best to start this story by giving you an idea of my academic background. To start, I’ll mention that I was in a public school system through the second grade, but was homeschooled from third grade to graduation. at age 14 I had completed ninth and tenth grades, but had to retake them via Penn Foster High School in order to ensure that I would receive a high school diploma. I did in fact receive my diploma at the age of 15. I’m getting ahead of myself though, so let me give you some quick highlights of the early years.
- I have always been fairly well-rounded and interested in a wide variety of subjects.
- I would often start a new hobby and some would persist while others would fade.
- Computers (and technology, programming, etc.) have always fascinated me, but I didn’t really take any formal classes until college.
- I learned as much HTML as I could via my dial-up internet and then applied it to a free Boomspeed site and a Neopets site. (Yes, Neopets.)
- I tried (and had a little success) learning C++ via a SAMS book. (Between this and the HTML, I had the very basics of programming down.)
That’s probably enough information. I also had (have) a love for speaking, teaching, and learning. The love of learning led to a lot of great discoveries and experiences. (If you’ve never built a maze out of cardboard tubes, arranged a room-sized Hotwheels track, constructed a potato gun, or learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube…well you’ve missed out, my friend.) The love for speaking and teaching led me to my college major.
Religion. That was my goal at the time. I wanted to by a youth pastor and help students the way I was helped. (I owe a great deal of my sanity and success to my own youth pastor, David Moorman.) I delved straight in at the age of 15. I chose the attend Liberty University via their Distance Learning Program. I made a 19 on my ACT which was exactly what I needed to get in, so I never retook it. (I’m nothing if not honest.) I took a computer class my first semester (just basic computer applications) and, ironically, I got a C. Not so great for someone now breaking into the world of web development and programming, huh? Chalk it up to a slow computer, dial-up internet (online class), and typical college slothfulness. I was off to a very…mediocre start.
At some point during my federally funded liberal art education, I realized I loved psychology. I decided to double major in religion and psychology, but by the end of school I had to drop the religion major altogether. (It was a purely strategic move to move up at my place of employment, but I’ll get to that later.) I did finally graduate and here were the highlights.
- Graduated with a 3.4 GPA in January 2012
- Made Dean’s List for multiple semesters
- Inducted into Psi Chi National Psychology Honor Society
- I was 2-3 courses shy of having my double major in religion.
- On the side, I became pretty proficient with Microsoft Office and realized I like statistics
Beyond college, most of my education has been self taught, online courses and MOOCs, and professional development on various topics. As you can see, I really did (do) change a lot. Despite all of this there are a few core desires that stick around.
I want to help others and make a difference.
I like to solve problems and figure things out for myself.
I can’t stand monotony or constant repetition. (I believe that most repetitious things in life can be automated.)
I have to be constantly improving or I feel discouraged and even depressed.
This is me. At least, this is this academic side of my life. There is a lot more here we could dig in to, but this gives you a good idea of where I started. I continue to build on my education every day, but I do it through non-debt inducing methods. My student loans placed a big burden on me, but getting into that would start an entirely different discussion on how much of higher education is pricing itself out of existence. For now, I hope you will continue to follow along with me as I learn these new skills and I encourage you to never stop learning yourself. Every day brings new challenges and experiences. Learn from them and make tomorrow even better than today.
Bryon
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