Returning to School after a 20-Year Break

Why would someone want to take a break from their life to return to school while working full time and raising a family? This is the question I have to ask myself over and over now that I am halfway through the pursuit of my Masters Degree in Public Administration with a Certificate in Information Technology Management. I work for a local city government agency and have been managing the Information Technology department for about 11 or 12 years. I have learned on the job, essentially from the ground up and have developed to the point where I can make decisions based on enabled intuition. The difficulty has come with management either not understanding or not valuing the insight an Information Technology leader can bring to the organization.

I was able to bring a cohesive, lean management style to the implementation of Information Technology in the agency, but I think it was taken for granted because when the new management came on the scene, I was pushed off of the management team - a decision obviously made before I ever had a chance to talk to the City Manager. It was both humiliating and degrading. I had already made the decision to return to school to earn my degree before this occurred, and was able to draw on these events as subject matter for my school papers and to use them as a "therapy" of sorts, which helped me get through the very difficult transition. I attribute this to God's grace and His ways of "preparing the way".

I relied on God through the transition. He helped me through it, and I thank Him. It is my desire to use the insight I am learning through my education to serve Him because I think it is due to Him that I am doing as well as I am. Five classes finished; five to go. The EMPA program at Golden Gate University consists of 9 courses. I have finished 6 of them and have gotten A's on each one. The ITM certificate program consists of 5 courses. I have completed one and got an A+ in that course. This trimester, I will be working on the next two courses for EMPA and the next one for ITM. I continue to pray for God's strength through this as it is not an easy process!