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Christina Carpenter '23
Within each of our Bay Path community members is an inspirational story of perseverance and strength, and we are honored to share them. This narrative originally appeared as part of Bay Path's #MyPath on social media.
"I was stuck in a job that I thought I would be in forever, and I only mediocrely liked. Going back to school has given me so many more opportunities. It's the best decision I've made for myself in a very long time.
"I did try college once. When I graduated from high school in 2010, I went right to community college. It was not for me at the time. I should not have done it. I dropped out after I got pregnant following my freshman year, and I didn't go back until I was 27. College is easy now because I have life experience and can connect what I'm learning to the world around me.
"When I decided to go back in 2019, I had just ended a job that I had for ten years as the front-end manager of a restaurant. I had no idea what I was doing next. One of my friends was in TAWC, and she told me about the program. I liked the idea that I could do it at my own pace. As a mom, you never know when you need to miss a class because somebody's sick. And since I had been volunteering in my son's school and enjoyed it, I decided to major in elementary education.
"Being in school gives you so many opportunities. I was one of twenty students worldwide to get a five-week fellowship with Google. I learned about this opportunity through an email from Bay Path. I knew nothing about technology, but I knew that technology is an education that keeps evolving. I needed to be a part of that conversation and have a seat at that table because even if I only stayed at that table and didn't go to the next, I would still have the information I learned to help myself and everybody I met.
"I also went to Bay Path's Women's Leadership Conference and witnessed how powerful women are. Society pushes us against each other. But that was a real community, and it was cool to see the women coming together. In one of my ethics classes, we learned that women are conditioned to only think about their interpersonal relationships, but society makes us constantly question our relationships. It's time we stop that. It doesn't matter if you're fifty or twenty years old; you should make a connection everywhere you are. We're at a women's college. We can all elevate each other." - Christina Carpenter ’23 #MyPath
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