An Introduction - Not Necessarily the Short Version

If you haven’t figured it out yet by the blog title, my name is Karrie Minor and I am honored to be writing for this new blog NWTC has developed.  I am a student at NWTC in the Paralegal Program, which I started in January of this year. In addition to being a student, I also count myself as a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a co-worker, an employee, a classmate and a friend.  Way back in 1989, I graduated from high school in a small town called Crivitz, Wisconsin. You may have heard of it, and if you have, you likely refer to it as “up north”. I went off to pursue higher education, first at UWGB with a major in Social Work, and then to Marquette University in Milwaukee to study Journalism.  In 1991, I took a few years off of school.  A few years turned into twenty, which included marriage, three children, and many years working in the corporate world, not necessarily in that order.  When I lost my job in the summer of 2010, it was a blessing in disguise.  My husband was attending NWTC in the CNC Machine Tool program at the time, and came home with a brochure for the Paralegal Program.  Being fully aware of my obsession with law, true crime books and those “48 Hour Mystery” shows on TV, he felt it would catch my interest. He was correct.

As adults, many people pass in and out of our lives.  Some we lose to marriage, some to careers, and perhaps some to a path in life we don’t necessarily approve of.  But there are some who stick around, and the others, who come back.  Many of those people we have met in school, or in the workplace. When you get to be my age (40, yes I am saying it out loud, the dreaded 4-0) you have seen your share of people and places (jobs, schools) come and go and some of them come back again.  I have not only re-connected with old friends at NWTC, but also have met some pretty amazing new friends.  I was apprehensive about being labeled as the dreaded “returning adult student”, yet now I can honestly say some of my closest friends in school are much younger than me.  Considering I am the mother of twin teenage boys, as well as a pre-teen girl, they might see me as a mom-type, but I do think we also connect on a peer level.

Now, at the ripe old age of 40, I am possibly a more well rounded individual than I was way back in 1989. One of my close friends, whom I met in my College Math class at NWTC, said it best when she said she feels like she has so many more intelligent things to talk about now that she is back in school.  I have been involved with volunteering and campus events that my whole family can attend.  Considering my two boys are graduating in spring, it has also helped me to know the process to assist them in their future career goals.  (On a side note, my son, Cody, was recently accepted to Milwaukee School of Engineering and awarded a $40,000 scholarship. Go Cody!)

I look forward to writing this blog and hopefully you will come to look forward to reading my weekly posts, which may not be quite as long as this one.  Please forgive the length as this introduction covers a lot. (Did I mention that 40 years is a long time?)  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!