Yvette Taylor has been iNKED!

Yvette Taylor
Senior, University Campus

Hello,

My name is Yvette Taylor and I am a student at Saint Leo University. I am a divorced parent, raising three of my four daughters and a Desert Storm veteran. At the age of 20 I left college and joined the US Air Force. Fifteen years and four daughters later, I decided to return to college. How could I tell my daughters that they had to go to college when I was not willing to finish it myself? I was taught in the Air Force that you do not ask anyone to do anything that you are not willing to do.

In the summer of 2006, I returned to college part-time while working a full-time job. In 2008, I was laid off my job of eleven years, and decided to go back to college full-time. I graduated with honors from Pasco-Hernando Community College in December of 2009. I remember praying that I would get into Saint Leo because of the prestigious reputation that the school has and I thought that it would look better on my resume’ than some of the other colleges in the area. The excitement I felt when I got my acceptance letter cannot be put into words. I bought a shirt for every member of my family; I wanted the world to know that I am student at Saint Leo University. Everyday that I walk the campus is like a dream for me.

This semester has been very hard for me because I have class until 6:10pm on Tuesdays. This class really disrupts my family’s schedule because my youngest daughter has to be picked up by 3pm and my twin daughters have basketball practice every day until 5pm. Along with these problems I am taking a class that is requires a lot of extra outside work in Dr. Farris’ class. So I have had to bring my daughters to seminars so that I could earn extra credit in the class.

For the most part my daughters have been very supportive of me. One day I came home complaining about the work load of this class, my oldest twin look at me and said

Mom if you had finished school when you were suppose to then you wouldn’t have this problem.

I wanted to be mad at her, but she was right, so the mother in me took over. My reply to her was “your right, so when you go to college remember how my going back to college later disrupted your life. Do what you are supposed to do while you are there.”

My daughters are what really keep me going. If I want them to get a college degree, then I need to set the example. It is so funny to me that even on my worst day at school I have not ever considered quitting. And as hard as this class is for me, I haven’t ever considered not going to Grad school. On the days when I feel discouraged, I look around at the campus and appreciate being a Saint Leo student, and tell myself,