Sep 09, 2008 - 04:30 AM

By Crystal Crimi

DURHAM -- Marty Campbell made it through her first class before getting into her car and starting the drive home.

Luckily, she was quick to turn back. In her 40s, the first day of going back to secondary school was a bit overwhelming.

“Between my first and second class, I got into the car and was ready to go home,” Ms. Campbell said, sitting in the Oshawa courthouse where she now works. 

Wearing blue slacks and a light blue shirt, she didn’t have her courtroom clerk’s robe and dickie yet, but should soon, a symbol that she’s made it, she said.

“I had been out of school for 25 years,” Ms. Campbell said. “I drove about five minutes and I drove back. I thought, ‘I don’t want to listen to a lecture from my husband’. And then I didn’t want to disappoint.”

She never bothered to finished high school when she was a teenager. She dropped out, got a job,

But when her daughter got to high school, Ms. Campbell decided she would get her high school diploma to prove it’s important.

“It was more for my kids, more to say I did it,” she said.

Not having her diploma had always nagged her a bit, so after telling her family and friends her intention, she signed up at Durham Continuing Education to get her missing six credits. She didn’t plan on pursuing her education beyond that.

Then the Durham College Continuous Learning book came. Her dad was a judge and she’s always been interested in law. She also volunteered for victim services.

“Many people struggle with, should I go back to school or not,” said Judy Robinson, Durham College’s vice president of academic.

Responsibilities in their personal life and the structure of school and writing tests are the two biggest challenges for mature students, but the school part is something they adjust to within a couple of weeks.

“I would say what causes them to procrastinate from coming back to school is finance issues,” Ms. Robinson said. “I think the second thing is, can I really do this, what if I go back and spend this money and I’m not successful.”

Although Ms. Campbell was nervous about the idea, she had already conquered her fear of the unknown by getting her secondary diploma. She signed up for Durham College’s court support service, a one-year certificate program to become a court reporter, and started last September.

“I got the job here before it finished,” she added. The 46-year-old has been working there since April.

Mature students are quite often successful, but may need upgrading first, Ms. Robinson said.

College and university prep is available at the college, as is upgrading for Grade 12 equivalency.

Those who go through upgrading often find the barriers are not what they thought they’d be, Ms. Robinson said.

“Even if you don’t think you’re confident enough, if you have self-doubt I still think you need to persevere,” she said. “You can surprise yourself what you can really accomplish if you put your mind to it.

“If I could do it, anyone could do it – with my bad study habits and lack of confidence,” Ms. Campbell said. She even received honours.

“Here’s someone who wasn’t going to go to post-secondary and now I’ve got a whole new career,” she said.

There are various reasons people want to go back to school, said Jeanette Barrett, dean of Durham College’s school of career development and continuing learning. They could be grandparents who want to help their grandchildren or pursue a hobby, or want to provide better for their families.

For Cheryl Bartlett, the decision came out of boredom.

She always knew she wanted a career and each time the Durham College booklet came, she found herself flipping through it, wondering. At home, her kids were growing up and her chores were done by 10 a.m. each day. She signed up for office administration with a legal option, but there were a few things she worried about, namely getting lost, her age, and things at home.

“It was the whole atmosphere,” Ms. Bartlett said. “Durham College, when you first walk in it’s a huge campus, but after a month or so, it’s nothing.”

After a couple weeks of getting to know people and establishing a new routine, she got comfortable. 

Before going, she also took an upgrading computer course at the school.

Not fitting in was her biggest misconception. Her academic success and landing on the president’s honour role were also a surprise to her.

Through some alternations, the Ajax resident said she was able to fit everything in. Ms. Bartlett stopped going to her son’s 10 a.m. hockey games in Markham; she also brought her books to the

“I spent a lot of weekends on the deck with my books,” she said. Her kids also helped out around the house and they did homework together.

Three years later, she works at Walker Head in Pickering. She got a job there as a legal assistant through her field placement and later took another course to become a law clerk.

Her advice to people sitting on the fence about returning to school is to go, she said.

“If you have the opportunity, it’s a great opportunity,” Ms. Bartlett said. “Just try to relax and enjoy it.”