Hello.

My name is Heather and I am currently a freshman at Klamath Community

College. I am studying for my Associate of Applied Sciences degree in Accounting
which I intend to use to transfer to a university in order to obtain a BAS in
Accounting. I am very fortunate that I am able to complete the courses I need in
order to achieve my AAS online, since I live 120 miles one way away from any
college. There are no community colleges or universities in Modoc County, where I
live, and the two nearest me are Lassen Community College, where I received my
first AS and began my studies for my current degree program, and Klamath
Community College. I made the decision to transfer last May after being in a
position that I had to drive 240 miles 2-3 times a week to take courses toward my
major because they were downsizing their distance education program.
I am twice the age of what is probably the average college freshman, and actually
have a daughter who is graduating high school in June. I spent roughly ten years as
a Realtor. Five years ago I was unexpectedly terminated while I was on medical
leave. I had made my career very much a part of my life, and it was a large part of
myself as well. After my termination I suffered with severe depression and went to
work after almost a year with my new boyfriend (now fianc) who was a contractor. I
worked happily with him building houses until two years ago I was told that I had a
brachial plexus injury in my shoulder and could no longer work in construction
either. After a few months just being a homemaker, I decided that I would go back
to school. I have always done well with the number end of things, and with my
anxiety disorder I realized I could no longer work in the real estate industry. I
weighed what I enjoyed, what I was good at, and what I could physically do, and
came up with accounting, which is funny, because I almost did that right out of high
school 20 years ago. So now you know what motivated me to go back to school at
almost 40.
Once I complete my degree I intend to go through certification and start an
accounting business that I can work from home and eventually move into an office
in town. I want to offer book-keeping and payroll services in addition to being a tax
professional. I think that one thing I will likely do is offer to provide a free workshop
each year for high school students. I have noticed that where I learned what a check
and checkbook register were in high school, that there is no longer a focus on such
things now. I have a senior, a sophomore, and a freshman, and none of the three
have seen curriculum teaching these thing through the high school. Maybe I am
showing my age, but we were required to take a one semester home economics
class that taught us how to balance a checkbook, replace a button, and how to
cook.
A little more about me on a personal level. As I have already mentioned, I have
three beautiful teenage daughters who have been my reason for breathing through
good times and bad. My fianc also has an 11 year old son who I have raised with
him for almost four years now. As far as I am concerned, he is my son. And let me
tell you something, after raising three little girls, a boy is a whole new experience,
lol. I love animals and have half a dozen cats and two Siberian Husky dogs that I
have had for two years now. I got them each at 8 weeks, five months apart, and
when we got our female was within a week of learning I could no longer work

because of my shoulder injury. At the time my girls were away for the summer
visiting their father who is a pipe-liner and I was very sad. Aphrodite brought joy and
comfort at a very difficult time. Five months later we got Achilles for Christmas. The
two of them are my constant friends and companions. I am literally with them 24/7
and once I start working again chances are that they will go to work with me, but I
have a lot of training to do with them before that. They are the sweetest, most
loving dogs I have ever known. If any tries to sell you a Siberian Husky as a guard
dog, do NOT do it, unless the plan is for the thief to rub their bellies until the police
arrive.
As far as my studies I am a very serious student, I devote literally 12 hours or more
a day, 7 days a week to my studies. In the beginning of the term I was making a
point to stop working on school once my fianc and children got home for the day,
and would only devote 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday. The first part of February I
had surgery so I found it necessary to take 5 days away from my studies to recover.
Once I got back I have been pulling double duty. Four of my five instructors were
awesome and worked with me on making my work up, but almost two weeks later
now I am still not at 100% and it takes me twice as long to do the same amount of
work. Aside from that though I have almost a 3.5 GPA and take it very hard if I score
less than an A on an assignment.
The highest math class I need for my major is either MTH 111 or MTH 243,
depending on which way you look at it. I am taking MTH243, Statistics, this
semester as well, and it is actually a lot more in depth mathematically than I had
imagined it being. In addition to those two courses, I have several accounting
classes to take, which also deal with numbers and formulas, but I believe those are
technically considered to be in the business spectrum rather than math.
The project for which I am creating this second page if for our Final Project for my
algebra class, MTH 070. I am taking MTH 070 this term so that I can progress to
MTH 095 next term, and likely MTH 111 the following term. I am not going to lie,
algebra is not now, nor has it ever been my forte, and it likely will not be in the
future, but reality dictates that you do what you need to do in order to progress in
life. A lot of what I have learned thus far in algebra I will probably be unlikely to use
in my future, but I am seeing more real life applications the further it is put into
perspective for me. I have personally always done well with practical math,
agricultural math in high school and business math when in college for my first
degree. Ten years ago Algebra was not required to get an associates degree, so at
38 years of age, I am learning much of the same content as my youngest daughter
is covering in her freshman algebra class.
I really like the MyMathLab products that we use for these courses. I am not a
stranger to college courses as I do hold an AS in Administration of Justice and I
started working toward my current degree program in fall of 2014. This platform has
by far been the most beneficial to me in actually learning, understanding, applying,
and mastering the content of any method I have seen, and I have taken courses
Online, In Class and Correspondence. I was so impressed in fact that I showed the
platform to the guidance counselor and my daughters high school.

Something that I have learned in this class that I never in a million years would have
expected in an algebra course, is how to create a website, with some help from
Weebly that is. When the term first started I was really interested to see some of the
tasks provided in the scavenger hunt tasks, but I feel that they have all been useful
and have taught me skills that I will use outside of college, and once I am again
working outside of the home. The Weebly platform offers several different options
for building a website, online store, or a blog. Their services are available free but
they do have options available that are paid services, now that I know about this
resource I will most likely use it when I start my new business or businesses. I have
even considered starting one for my upcoming wedding so that those who are
unable to make the ceremony can still be involved.