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LEVERAGING Finding Your North TO EXCEL IN A MPA PROGRAM

Tasha Henneman, MPA

I recently completed my Master’s in Public Administration, and I never realized how much outside support it required for me to achieve this goal. To begin the MPA program felt really good. It had been over 5 years since finishing my undergraduate degree, so the excitement of being back on campus and socializing with people that had similar interests helped the first year go by smooth and relatively quick. (Taking 1 class per quarter also helped with this transition). Slowly but surely however, the second year began to propose more challenges and the once smooth, feel good, excitement began to change to struggle, hardship and overall stress. As a fulltime working, single parent, I realized that if I wanted to receive my degree, I was going to need an additional shove, kick or shoulder to lean on. As it turned out, Finding Your North: Self Help Strategies for Science-Related Careers, was exactly what I needed. I realized that even though I am not in a science or math related field, everything in this book is relevant to all graduate students. I realized that other students had breakdowns of uncontrollable crying spells, that students cooped with stress similar to the ways I did, and that there is a lot of uncertainty and confusion that occurs simultaneously, while trying to balance life and school.

Finding Your North helped me to remember not to quit even though I wanted to 2 quarters before finishing. FYN reminded me that what I was going to accomplish was doable, and it just required a little reorganizing and a lot of reflection as to why I wanted to do what I was doing. Dr. Moore reminded me that I have an innate learning style that I wasn’t tapping into. I realized that processing some of the more theoretical information required additional rereads, study group discussions and even talks with my professors in order for me to retain the information. I was experiencing a lot of self-doubt but after reading and rereading Finding your North, I began to remember to acknowledge the positive factors that exist within me. Including: the strengths I exude when communicating with and listening to others, the insight I put forth in writing a paper, the experiences that are practical from school to work and visa versa, the knowledge I’m learning to make positive changes in our society and the overall awareness to remain strong when balancing life, motherhood and school. I’m doing this to be a good example to my daughter and to make my dreams of a higher education come true.

I would recommend this book to any college or high school student, it is a good reminder of what things are necessary for one to succeed and it is filled with great mentoring advice that can be leveage to help students get through the academic process with grace.  It is more then beneficial to hear the stories of all the authors-- FYN is truly powerful.

*Authors interested in publishing on FYN's website, please send inquiries to: editorial@findingyournorth.com