Amy
Essay Assignment
Written Communication

NEW JOB OR SCHOOLING?

It is not every day that one walks into work and loses their job to a layoff. The layoff meant finding another job or taking offered state aid and return to school. My choice to return to school and choose an academic major was far from an easy decision to make. There were life choices, financial decisions, and personal reasons behind my choice. My being accepted took a lot of effort and jumping through hoops. When your boss calls you aside and hands you a giant yellow-orange envelope, it’s usually not for a good reason. Unfortunately, I received that fate June 2014. This was the second layoff that happened in a matter of months and a slap in the face no one saw coming. My last day would be in July, so I had about a month to decide what to do. My situation deemed me a dislocated worker; my job, shipped overseas. The state offers full funding for an approved academic major as a dislocated worker. It required an application process along with many tests and surveys. I had to apply to the local technical college as well, my fingers crossed that I would be accepted. I ran into obstacles at the college from previous tries at school but quickly surpassed them. Accepted, but now what to do? At the time, my fiancé and I were in early planning stages of our wedding and finances were our number one topic of discussion. He knew school was the best option for me and vowed we would make it work. I had toyed with the idea of engineering in the case of a lay off, but never followed through with any research. At this point, I checked out the options and finalized on Civil Structural Engineering Technician. We put our wedding plans on hold and I dove right into school. I honestly had no