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by NIKKI ROBERTI
Lifestyles Reporter
Martha B. Martin, senior secondary English education major, has been happily married for 14 years.
But along with her duties of student and wife, she adds mother to the list as she takes care of her two children who are 10 and 6 years old.
“I have to make
choices,” Martin said. “It’s either neglect family things or school
things. It’s a very fine balance. Family time comes first if I can help
it. It’s not their fault mommy wanted to go back to school.”
Martin went to community college after high school to get an associate degree in accounting.
She was
told going to a four year school was not necessarily an option for her,
and left the application for college in her high school locker.
But after working for a while, she started taking classes online to become a high school teacher.
“It kind
of sank in that I didn’t want to be stuck in an office with stuffy, old
women,” Martin said. “I know I appreciate my education much more than I
probably would have at 18 years old.”
Martin took as many online courses as she could, until she finally had to come on campus for the last couple.
Living an hour away, she and her family had to rent out their house and move to an apartment in Banner Elk.
The move was the hardest part for the kids, she said.
“It was
definitely a huge adjustment coming from out in the country with a huge
backyard from there to here with no backyard,” Martin said.
When
deciding to make the move, the Martin family discussed together the
whole idea and how going back to college would affect the family.
“[We decided] as long as we were together as a family, it would be fine,” she said. “[The kids] knew it wasn’t permanent.”
Martin and her husband “tag team” when it comes to taking care of the kids, she said.
She also makes her schedule around their school hours, her daughter’s dance classes three days a week and her son’s sports.
Martin said balancing her life as a mother, wife and student can be stressful.
“I don’t have the lovely carefree life of a normal student,” she said.
If she could do it again, Martin would have attended college before having children.
However, Martin loves being a mother and has found ways to balance.
She said
sometimes to get the job completed for school she has to read while her
son is at soccer practice or run errands while her daughter is in dance
class.
Martin has set her alarm clock to 3 a.m. before to finish schoolwork on time.
She thinks her children seeing her attend college is also a good influence on them.
“They
think it’s neat that mommy goes to ASU,” she said. “Seeing me study
shows them… Mommy wants to go to college and works hard so she can
finish.”
To her, no matter what, her children come first.
“They’ll
remember when I went to school when they were young. I studied but I
didn’t neglect their needs,” Martin said. “They’re not going to suffer
because what I want to do. That changes when you have children.”
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