Saturday Story - December 5, 2020

 Saturday Story - December 5, 2020

A work of fiction

When is it time?

*****

Chelsea had lived in Pierre South Dakota all of her life.  She had been married to Conor, who, to her regret, was an alcoholic and abusive man.  She tried to make a go of it.  After one particular fight, where he had pushed down and plummeted her until she was unconscious, bruised and cut and bleeding, and their six-year-old son, Garret had somehow managed to call 911, she knew it was “time” - time to stop the abuse and to end the marriage.  

The legal system got involved and required Conor to have counseling and to stay away from Chelsea, as well as to make child support payments until Garret was 21 years-old.  

Chelsea and Garret had a small two-bedroom house in a somewhat shabby neighborhood of Pierre.  

But, Chelsea was not a quitter and worked to improve their life.  Her parents were also in the Pierre area and her father was a handyman, and between Chelsea and Bill, the house was spruced up.  A new kitchen was installed.  Chelsea had kept her job as an administrative assistant for one of the State Government departments (Pierre is the state capital of South Dakota).  They flipped the house for a nice profit, and with her parents, got another house that needed some tender loving care in Pierre.  

It was quite a team.  Mom watched Garret while Bill and Chelsea worked on houses on nights and weekends.  Fortunately, Conor had been a responsible father and did keep the monthly child payments going.  Conor had found another wife and had moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota, but still paid the support. Bill had been in the Navy and was an engineer for the City of Pierre.  And, he knew people.  One of Bill’s friends was a talented plumber and helped Chelsea and Bill with plumbing issues on the houses they were remodeling.  Bill was strong in electricity and helped with new circuits and rewiring.  

Soon they were flipping two houses a year.  And, making a profit on each one.  That worked for about five years, But, then the housing market changed and two houses that they had flipped sat on the market for about six months (and Chelsea was still paying the mortgage on them).  

*****

Chelsea had a secretarial diploma from the Capital Area Community College.  At her job in the state printing department, she got proficient in Excel - even creating input forms, macros, creating charts.  Soon, other administrative assistants were asking her for help.  In between other aspects of her job, she was working on Excel sheets for other state departments.  

Along the way, she started talking to Doug White, a computer programmer for the state.  Doug saw that Chelsea had a knack for computing.  He put a radical thought in Chelsea’s brain - why not get your computer information systems degree from Dakota State University.  At first, that was just a total fantasy.  Dakota State was a long three drive from Pierre.  But Doug understood that.  

“Chelsea,” Doug said one day.  “My cousin is the Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems at Dakota State.  Would you be willing to talk to her?”

****

Two days later, after thinking about Doug’s conversation, she asked him to have coffee with her.  Getting a regular college degree was something that applied to Chelsea.  In computer programming?  That seemed to be the question?  Could she handle that?  Would she have to leave Pierre?  What about Garett?  Would he have to go to Madison?  

Their coffee time took up about 45 minutes that day.  Chelsea was diligent and would make up her time.  Doug was salaried and often came in on weekends for software and hardware updates.  

Getting a degree meant she would have to have general education courses - but she could get most of those at the Capital Area Community College - and those courses would transfer. She could also get some of the computing classes at CACC.  Doug thought that some of Dakota State University's classes were online, so she could take them and still be on the job.  Yes, it was going to take work, but she could do it - just when she flipped houses.  She might have to go to Madison for a semester or two.  It might be that, if she was lucky, she might have Tuesday and Thursday class days.  She could drive over to Madison on Monday evening, find a place to stay, take her classes on Tuesday, study and do homework on Wednesday, take the rest of her class load on Thursday and Thursday night drive back to Pierre.  She thought she could leave Garett with her Mom and Dad (maybe).  It was worth investigating.  

*****

Chelsea sent me an email.  I was now the past Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems, but I was pretty good at helping students get their degrees.  In theory, she could get most of the general education course work at CACC and, as Doug thought, some of the computing classes.  And, yes, Dakota State University did offer some courses online.  

We arranged a phone conversation.

I called Chelsea and she answered.

“Hello”, Chelsea said.

We had a few minutes of getting to know each other and talked briefly about Doug, my cousin (also nice to have a ‘touchstone’ to build on).

“Chelsea,” I started. “Yes, you would almost need to come to campus for a semester.  Fortunately, we could almost get you a Tuesday-Thursday schedule like you and Doug talked about.  For example, in most fall semesters, we offered Operating Systems from 8:00 to 9:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays; you could then take Systems Analysis and Design from 9:30 to 10:45; then C programming from 11:00 to 12:15.  I think you’d need a lunch break until 2:00 and you could get Enterprise Systems from 2:00 to 3:15, and the Database course on Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 9:30.  There you are - 15 credits.  You should be able to get maybe 18 credits at CACC - like Introduction to Computing, Computer Programming I and II, plus college algebra and Calculus I.  We generally teach COBOL programming I and II online for another 6 credits.  You would be missing our senior project and a computing elective.  I think we could do the senior project online, and you might be able to get a computing elective in Pierre.”

I paused for a breath and to let this soak in with Chelsea.  “We would want to evaluate your transcript for your secretarial diploma.  You probably would get credit for a few courses there - maybe English Composition I and II.”

“But, I think taking a reasonable amount of credits and working, it still would take you four years.”

Since our call was a video call, I tried to read Chelsea’s face.  She seemed to be deep in thought.  Down inside, I felt like a salesman trying to sell Chelsea a new car or something expensive like that.  It wasn’t going to be easy for her.

Over the next few months, we talked more about plans.  She had worked out with her parents to watch Garett some of the evenings while she took classes at the Capital Area Community College (CACC).  Plus, Garett was now twelve years old and was into activities, and didn’t need much true “baby-sitting”.

*****

Over the next four years, Chelsea didn’t have much of a life.  Working, taking classes, doing homework, and being Mom!!!  But, amazingly, she did quite well in her classes.  I had non-traditional students before and generally, found that they were highly motivated, and not distracted by the activities undergraduate did - like going to sporting events, or partying.  It seemed like “no pain, no gain” for non-traditional students, who envisioned a brighter future when they graduated.  

*****

About six months before her expected graduation, Chelsea was hired by the State Department of Information Technology (I’m sure Doug had a hand in the hiring process).  Her salary jumped significantly.  

She did graduate Magna Cum Laude in four years, and with a great job in computing.  

Two years later Garett graduated from college and opted to come to Dakota State as a traditional student.  (I’m sure Mom had some influence on him).

A year after that, I received a call from Chelsea one morning.  After some visiting, she said “Karen, I like what I do for the State, but I’m looking for a new challenge.  You know me as well as anybody, what might you suggest?”

That can be a big question for a professor.  I didn’t really want to “play God” in her life and suggest that she take a position with Citibank or Schwans or Federated on some other place where we had alumni (and I could make a phone call to get her foot in the door)  It seemed like she was ready to move away from Pierre.  Her folks were living in Phoenix for most of the year and were near to her sister who was a nurse in Phoenix.  There weren’t many reasons to stay in Pierre, other than old friends, and she could visit them on long weekends and vacations.

The week after we talked, I got a note from Sandy Beckham, the technology human resources person at Citibank.  (Sandy and I went way back to when I was a summer intern at Citibank for 12 summers!!!) They were looking for somebody to fill a position immediately on an important project.  They didn’t want a recent graduate, but an experienced person, who could move fairly quickly.  

BINGO!!

Within two weeks, Chelsea interviewed with Sandy and Citibank officials and took the position at about a 50% raise than what she was getting paid in Pierre.  Yes, Sioux Falls was going to be more expensive to live in, but she was ready.

***********

Yes, I can be a Pollyanna.  But, things like this happen.  Although I wasn’t involved, a niece in Wyoming has just taken a new position that is a great step up for her in the Kansas City area.  I see the sky as the limit for this niece.  

It was with this niece in mind - that I wrote today’s story.  Opportunities do exist, but sometimes you have to work to get them (such as going back to school in this story).  

Now, a caveat.  You choose who you are and where you want to be.  Some choose to “bloom where they are planted” and they make an awesome difference in their current communities; others choose to move to the opportunity and enjoy the challenge.  What do you want to do?

*****

Tomorrow will be a Sunday Funday for the First Sunday of December.  I’ll be continuing on my teaching experiences next week!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Hugs!!

Karen