This coming Tuesday, I go back to school.  I have enrolled at the local community college as a part-time student.  I will take one class, two days a week.  And, I will put in some hours as a tutor in the Learning Laboratory, where I hope to help students who need help with English and Writing.  This may not sound like much, but I guess it's a lot more important than I thought because, man, did I have to go through a lot to get there!

I wrote about it several times in the past, namely HERE, HERE, and HERE.  But, to recap:  Back in the spring, the college sent out a flyer advertising its summer and fall schedules.  I cut out the application, filled it out (which, I am almost positive, included mentioning the fact that I already have a four-year degree), and sent it in.  Next thing you know, I'm scheduled for a college placement test.  Whatever.  So, I go to campus to take the test, which included a typing test, a writing sample, an assessment of my reading comprehension, and some algebra and other math for which I have no use.  Later, during a brief meeting with my advisor, she asked why they had me take the test.  Bygones, I said, and she signed me up for the one course I want to take.

Earlier this week, I went back to campus to buy the book I'll need and to get my student ID.  I also wanted to touch base with the woman who runs the Learning Lab.  See, a few weeks ago, I sent her an email (with a resume attached) expressing my interest in working as an English/Writing tutor.  I never heard back.  So, since I was on campus, I stopped in at the lab.

The woman told me that she never saw the email.  But, she kindly explained that if I wanted to be a tutor, I had to fill out the application, write a short statement explaining why I wanted to tutor, and provide two letters of reference from faculty or staff at the community college.  I told her that, considering I don't actually know any of the faculty or staff, I wasn't sure how I would get those letters.  Professional references, however, no problem.  I also said that I would re-send the initial email.

Well, when I got home from work that night, wouldn't you know it, I had an email from the woman at the Learning Lab.  She had managed to find my initial email.  She said that what I wrote in that email would suffice as the explanatory statement and that SHE would write one of the required letters of reference!  Now that I saw how this was going to go, I emailed my advisor - who I had met for all of 15 minutes - and asked her to write the other letter.

After all that, I'm enrolled and I'm fairly sure that I have a part-time job.  But, it really shouldn't have been that hard.  Just ask Amy and Emily.