As I walked in to this beautiful, clean, well decorated office I thought, wow this is nice. I sat in the lobby and waited for the receptionist to announce my arrival to the admissions counselor, Mrs. Bakutis. Shortly thereafter, a young lady emerged from a long hallway, smiling with an extended arm to greet me with a handshake as she introduced herself to me as Paneora Bakutis. As with most conversations, we began our interview with small talk. I complimented her on how nicely decorated the office was, as she went to prepare what looked like materials for our interview. We began our interview and I listened intently while Ms. Bakutis told me of all the wonderful opportunities Morris Graduate College has to offer. We discussed which program may work best for me, location, and financial aid. As we were closing out the interview Ms Bakutis opened a black folder shaped like an elegant envelope and pulled out papers that needed to be returned as soon as possible. She then alerted me that classes would begin on December 2nd, 2013, so it would be beneficial to me to get started as soon as possible.
The final thing Ms. Bakutis told me as we wrapped up our meeting is that I would need to submit a personal statement along with two letters of recommendation. Whoa!!!!! At that moment everything stopped. I need to write a personal statement? Wow!!! I’ve never written a personal statement. Am I really ready for this? These were just some of the thoughts running through my mind. I went into panic mode as my mind started racing. Aaaww man, I have to write a paper to get into the Master’s Program? Shoot!! What would I write about? Will this really determine whether the school will accept me or not? I haven’t written a paper since I was in the BSW program at Governors State University. Then I thought, forget it, I’m not doing this. There were so many thoughts going through my mind. It was like the angel and the devil, one on each shoulder. On one side I had this little devil saying, yeah forget it; you can’t compete with these younger kids anyway. You already have a Bachelors degree and a job; you don’t need to go back to school. Look at all the loans you’ve already accumulated. Then there was the soft calm voice on the other side saying, you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Not only that; what kinds of examples are you setting for your son? Staying where you are will not advance you. You will not be able to get ahead with being mediocre, and you are not mediocre. You can do this. So with those small convictions I finished up my entrance interview with Mrs. Bakutis and decided to start working on my newest goal, which is to get started writing my personal statement and get accepted into Morris Graduate school.
So here I am sitting in front of my computer pondering on how to make my personal statement stand out (welcome to the beginning of grad school). This personal statement needs to be different from any other personal statement they have ever read. I want the people who are going to read my personal statement to feel as though they know me already. I want to make them smile, laugh, giggle and remember me, because this is how I am in real life. Whenever I meet people I always want to make a lasting impression. I want to be more than just a number or a passing person, I want to make a difference and be helpful. So with that being said, let me introduce myself to you.
I am Roxanne Hughes, a single mom, full of wonderful accomplishments such as (my most recent and biggest) purchasing a home without any help from family or friends. I graduated from Governors State University with a BSW; I have a college age son who is pursing an Engineering degree with the help of his mother. I work full time at School District 168 and also own my own hair salon. These are just a few of my accomplishments. What makes me most proud of my accomplishments is the fact that people doubted me while pursuing my goals. Sure it may have taken me a little longer to get to the finish line, but I did. So now I am looking forward to my next goal which is obtaining my Masters in Human Resources.
My personality? Well, I’ll just tell you what I have heard over the years, as I don’t really like to “toot my own horn.” For the most part, I am bubbly and always smiling. I sometimes hear from my co-workers, if you aren’t smiling or talking something is wrong. And for the most part they are right. Then there are times where I realize that I need to listen and not always talk. In my line of work I have to balance my listening and talking skills and also speak up when I need too. I am very helpful and take pride in my work. This will be helpful and productive while working in group settings for class. My work is a reflection of me. So in researching what to include in my personal statement, not only did I read that I should talk about my accomplishments and what would make me stand out, but why or what would make me a good candidate at Morris Graduate School? First and foremost, I am more focused and career minded than I was in undergrad. To be honest, in undergrad I did not put forth the effort that I should have. Of course I realized this after the fact, but while in school, I thought why I am torturing myself like this? Sure I passed and some classes were better than others, but I was not totally focused nor was I as serious as I am about my career and future endeavors as I am today. It all comes with maturity; my goal was to obtain my BSW and I did just that. I was not involved in any activities in regards to my major; looking back I wish I would have been more involved and more proactive in my classes. But now that I know better I plan to do better. At this age and time of my life I am more determined, focused and excited about my future as never before. I have a desire to be involved, I want to be able to encourage and show others that if I can do this you most definitely can. My plan this time around is to be a team player, the encouraging one, the backbone of the group. I want to be the motivator, not just sit back and be passive. Oh yes, I am sure there will be nights that I feel as though I want to give up but because of my determination, I WILL NOT!!! I am on a mission and I am quite excited about it.

Now I am sure you are wondering, why I am so excited about pursuing a graduate degree, and what do I plan to do with my degree? Well I’m glad you asked. Not only will having a graduate degree help promote me in my current position, but it will also make me more marketable for other companies who are seeking new employee’s with experience to go along with the theoretical knowledge that I plan to obtain from Morris Graduate College. I believe that once a person has experience, the master's degree will open more doors. Ultimately, my plan is to stay at my current place of employment and promote the importance of having a more defined human resource department. My place of employment is considered small, and they feel there is no need for a human resource department. With the new information and skills that I plan to learn at Morris Graduate School, I plan to educate them on the benefits of having a human resource department that can and will run effectively and efficiently. They will also benefit from me helping them to develop a plan that will allow the district to run even more smoothly now that they will have someone qualified to do the work. This newly created Human resources department will save the district money and avoid costly auditing fines.
I hope this short statement gives you some insight as to who I am and what my goals are in regards to becoming a grad student at Morris Gradate School.