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“When you go back to school at age 40 with a husband and two children, you go back as a family,” says Julie Rancudo, who praised the sacrifices her family made on her behalf this past year.
Returning to college during the summer of 2004, Julie says she quickly developed the dedication and the drive to succeed and received plenty of encouragement from her teachers.
“Still, coming back to school as an older student is challenging. When you’re a young student you think you can ‘whip the world.’ When you’re an older student, you wonder if you can remember your ‘abcs.’”
Julie not only remembered her “abcs,” she mastered them, maintaining a 3.6 GPA in her coursework while balancing the needs of her family, which includes husband Jeff, a son, Cameron, and a daughter, Chelsea, aged 10 and 12.
“I became interested in teaching after I did substitute teaching for five years,” says Julie, who is enrolled in the early childhood education program.
“Helping children have self confidence is one of my main goals as a future teacher. I hope that I can be as creative with my students as the Dalton professors have been with me.”
One of the concepts she’s liked best thus far is exploring differing learning styles.
“In our Intro to Education class, Dr. (Christy) Price has taught us using each of the different learning styles.
“I plan to use each of those styles in my classroom to reach different kinds of learners.”
In her role as a “non-traditional” student at Dalton State, Julie tries to mentor younger students and to encourage them to interact with their professors.
“One of the important things younger students need to know is that you have to be willing to approach your professors when you don’t understand something. You can’t get the help you need if you’re not aggressive enough to seek it out.”
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