Well, as most of you know by now, I have finished up my classes at UNCG and have earned my Master's in Gerontology. That last two weeks were tough. I had to do a video presentation of my experiences in the program and talk about gerontological competencies. While I did know what I was talking about, it was still pretty nerve wracking. I chose to do mine on Power Point because I am familiar with that program. And it lets me record one slide at a time as opposed to doing it all in one take. That did relieve some of the stress. And we couldn't just record our voices, we had to be on camera. Yippee LOL Like many people, I am not a fan of listening to myself speak much less watching me do it. Oh, well.
Trying to get everything done was tough. Our presentation had to be between 25 and 35 minutes. Mine clocked in at 33 minutes. And now I know now that is a relatively short amount of time. Some of the competencies I discussed could have gone on a lot longer than they did. But I was on a time constraint and had to get everything in. We were not allowed to read from a script either. I understand that. I did not do that but I did have notes to refer to so that I made sure I covered everything I wanted to under each topic. However, having notes pasted all around my desk made it difficult to keep my train of thought. I think the first slide that I did took me about 2 hours to do. I was frustrated to say the least. I stepped away from the computer for a bit to clear my head and when I came back, I noticed that Power Point has a notes section. When I checked into it, I learned that I could type in my notes for each slide and have them there by the screen. That was a HUGE help and from then on, everything went smoothly and quickly.
Our presentations were due on a Monday by 11:59 p.m. I finished my taping on Saturday. On Sunday I checked everything to make sure it was working properly like the link to my video and the audio levels. Everything was fine and I turned it in that day. Then I had to sit and wait. That was nerve wracking as well. My presentation was being sent to three adjudicators for review. They were being sent out Tuesday morning and they to review them and get them back in the following Wednesday, so they had a little over a week.. Dr. Caro and Dr. Eifert would meet on Thursday to discuss the reviews and Friday we would find out if we passed or not. I took that Friday off because I knew I would be a nervous wreck. Actually, it was not that bad. But I would go and check my email to see if my notification had come. I kept myself busy around the house, trying not to think about it. But I would check every hour or so and then go back to something else. Finally, around 3:00 p.m., my email came, and I had passed. That was such a relief! Dr. Eifert told me that one of the reviewers said gerontology was lucky to have me and another said they would hire me on the spot. That's some good feedback!
So, there you have it. I now have a Master's in Gerontology. I am not sure what the next step will be for me as far as this degree goes, but I am excited about the possibilities. And I am proud of my accomplishments. That is all.
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