ESSAY:

As a young adult, I find myself challenged by the decisions that I make on a daily basis. One of my biggest decisions right now is to choose between going to a four year college or continuing on with the [T.C.] Bridge to Employment Program*. Since grade school, I was set on going to a university to study Psychology. Mental health and children have always been my strong suit. Although I had my eyes on college, during senior year of high school, at [R] Career and Technical school, I was introduced to the [T.C.] Bridge to Employment Program.

Being a child psychologist has always been my dream, so when I found out that the bridge program offered not only a behavioral health track, but free tuition at [T] University*, with the guaranteed job at [T] Hospital*. Behavioral health is a stepping stone to pursuing my career in Psychology. I began the summer bootcamp section of the program in July, which consisted of academic reviewing like math and English and career and skills training, such as resume writing and financial literacy. Every Friday we would have guest speakers from social workers, OSHA instructors and people who worked in Temple University departments.

Today is October 22nd and I’m now in the second session of the program, the skills training which consist of Behavioral Health. I’m still enjoying the program but a lot of changes have been made which has led up to my big decision making. As I mentioned before, we were guaranteed a position at [T] University Hospital*, and along with the job came free tuition. At the last minute, the students were all informed that the slots at [T] Hospital were limited and only a select few students will be placed there. Now, that does not mean that the other students will be left jobless, they’ll be positioned at a different healthcare facility. The problem with that is the option of having a full ride is completely out of the window, while majority of us are in the program for free schooling.

On the topic of free education, we learned that since [T] Cares* will be paying for our college education, we are only able to get tuition remission while working full time at the hospital. Six credits per semester means we can only take to one to two classes while working full time. I am absolutely not complaining but that’s extremely challenging. For starters, it would take me six to seven years to graduate from college. I planned on furthering my education by getting a Masters and PhD, so this will prolong my process. Lastly, anything could happen with me being a woman. During the time of me working full time and going to school, I could even end up pregnant. That means I have to take maternity leave, and they won’t be able to pay for my schooling anymore.

I genuinely enjoy the program, and I do believe that this could possibly help me with jump starting my career, but I do believe that I can be in school right now, and working. I’m not being impatient nor ungrateful, I just want to get my life started. I’m 18, being a Behavioral Health Technician at my age would be amazing, but [T] Cares seems to be slightly unorganized and falsely advertised. I’ve been enrolled into this program since July 2nd, I don’t want to give up now but sometimes college seems more realistic. Hopefully, everything turns out as planned because I can’t afford a four year college and being in the mental health field at 18 would be an amazing action step.

*Selected details have been modified to protect the anonymity of individuals and organizations referenced in this submission.