I am so proud of Clay. One of the most difficult challenges a person can take on is working full time, maintaining a successful personal life, and going back to school. When I met Clay he had just moved to OK from Canada. One of the goals and dreams he put on hold to make the move was completing his college education.
Clay is one of those folks who started college out of high school and realized he didn't know what he wanted out of school. So instead of wasting time and money in college he decided to enter the work force. God blessed him in this decision and was able to make remarkable strides in his career in spite of no formal education. I credit that to good work ethic and an on the job education (which may be more valuable than school!).
When he moved to Oklahoma he was asked to delay going back to school until the project got going. At the time Clay didn't realize that would be a 3 year delay!
So when I decided to go back to law school the time seemed right for Clay to finish his degree as well. Unfortunately we hit another road block! When Clay investigated local schools he discovered that NONE of his Canadian credits would transfer. In Canada he was only a year from completing his degree, but due to the type of program he pursued the US institutions wouldn't take the credits! Grrr!
But like I said, Clay has an amazing work ethic. Instead of letting this defeat him we looked at our options. We decided that the process seemed less daunting if Clay pursued an Associates degree that would transfer to a four-year bachelors program rather than take on the Bachelors straight away. Clay had to take an entrance exam since the US schools didn't accept his Canadian high school degree as demonstrating competency and when he scored amazingly well on that we were off to the races.
As I mentioned Clay and I started back to school the same semester. He sacrificed by allowing me to quit my job to pursue law school full time while he continued to work full time to support us and while taking classes half time. When the process started we thought we would graduate within a year of one another, but more road blocks came.
In fall 2008 Clay was in a car wreck and that winter he tore his ACL. Both of these events effected the number and type of courses he could take in order to concentrate on his recovery. Starting in 2009 his job began demanding more travel requiring him to either take online courses or not take any class at all. But again, Clay persevered!
In the end Clay was able to take the last course required and completed his Associates degree in business this past fall semester! Yesterday the piece of paper we have been waiting for arrived in the mail!! I'm so proud!
Congrats my love! I know you worked hard and this is just the beginning! I also appreciate all your sacrifices to make my dreams come true while you continued to pursue yours! I love you!!
