Going Back to School – Twice – As a Veteran and Father of Four

Posted on February 23, 2018

At 29, Sean Moore of Cranston, RI already had much to be proud of in his life when he enrolled in the Providence College School of Continuing Education (SCE) in 2014. The father of four is an Army veteran, having served straight out of high school, from 2004 to 2007.

While in the Army Moore performed a variety of tasks related to administrative operations, including processing soldiers’ pay at Army bases in the U.S. and overseas, where he sometimes was tasked with delivering cash from a backpack to soldiers stationed at forward operating bases in Kandahar, Bagram and Kabul, Afghanistan.

The work he did in the Army translated to career aspirations of becoming a financial analyst once his active duty tour was finished. He graduated with an Associate’s degree in Business from the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) in 2014, but he says most of the jobs he was applying for required a Bachelor’s degree. So, he enrolled in the Liberal Studies Bachelor’s degree program at SCE.

I knew PC to be a great school from its regional rankings, and once I was a student I found both the students and faculty to be amazing as well, I actually enjoyed being back in a classroom setting and jump-starting my education again. The staff and faculty were always there when I needed them, and always very helpful, including Assistant Dean Anne Nagle and Professor Michael Lynch, just to name a couple. I also really enjoyed having many of the same classmates throughout my time at PC.

Any working adult with a family can imagine the challenges that might be faced while juggling those responsibilities as well as classwork. But Moore says that his experiences at both CCRI and PC SCE were very supportive and positive, as was the transition from one institution to the other.

CCRI allowed me to work on my degree at my own pace, and both the Warwick and Lincoln campuses had excellent teachers and students. Once I graduated from there and decided to pursue my Bachelor’s at PC SCE, Assistant Dean Anne Nagle helped to make that transition seamless, and PC has been awesome.

Moore graduated from SCE with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies as well as a certificate in accounting in May, 2017. Now he says he’s looking forward to more family time and to moving ahead with his career. And as someone who’s pushed through to achieve one goal after the next, Moore has some advice for others who are thinking about continuing their education but are nervous to get started.

The hardest part was balancing life between working full-time, going to school and having a family at home. But what I would tell new SCE students or potential transfers from CCRI or anywhere else, is don’t stop or give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and you will make some great friends along the way.

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Going Back to School – Twice – As a Veteran and Father of Four