For Rosella Hyland, a college degree was a long time coming. But an associate’s degree in general studies this past May gave Hyland a sense of accomplishment for something she started years ago.

“Right out of high school I attended college for a couple of years, but my boyfriend had finished his degree and we got married,” Hyland said. “Children immediately came into the picture. I decided to stay home and take care of the children.

“Now my three children are all in college or have graduated from college,” she added. “So we all came together as a family and decided it was Mom’s turn to finish. That’s what led me back to school and to JCCC.”

Getting back in the swing of things was not as easy as some people might think.

“I had always done pretty well in school,” Hyland pointed out. “But I had areas like math that were very intimidating to me and that was probably my biggest fear.

“I felt like I could do anything … anything except math,” she added. “So once I came back I had to take the assessment test. I was horrified. But everything turned out fine, and I was able to move forward.”

Hyland said she was determined to like math at least as much as she liked some of her other subjects. Her first math class was Fundamentals of Math, and she decided to take the class online.

“I found that if given the time and the forum where I could go through an assignment multiple times then I not only would grasp the concepts but I could retain them,” she noted. “This was something very surprising to me. I actually find that I now enjoy math.”

For Hyland, she thinks her fear of math was a self-esteem issue.

“In math classes before, even back in high school, I felt like I would get behind, and I would be too ashamed to ask questions about what it was others were talking about,” she said. “Looking back now, I realize it only made things worse and only caused me to get behind further.”

“So I guess when I started back in college and every little step I took with what I was retaining was that much more self esteem I was developing,” she added. “It made me think that if I could do math, I could do anything.”

Hyland said that while she was attending JCCC she was pleasantly surprised with how instructors took an interest in her personally.

“It seemed like every class I took, I think the teachers got the impression that I was taking it seriously, that I was doing the work and being on time,” she said. “Most of them pulled me aside one way or another and always said very encouraging things to me.”

Hyland’s message to other students, especially nontraditional students, is to approach higher education for oneself, no one else.

“Always remember that you are going to school for yourself,” she said. “If you approach it from that angle, you will make sure you get out of it everything that is yours.”