I finished my first online course from Harvard University!
Cool story about it for those of you with nothing but time:
When I was 6 years old, I tried to plan my life. The image of my future self that I came up with was something like this:
-I'd drive a red, convertible mustang with the top down, sunglasses on, and hair flowing.
-I'd pull over to help all the boys with their car problems.
-I'd have THE BEST body, and I'd walk around in a short, red shirt and blue jean shorts.
-All my stuff would be red and black.
-I'd never have kids.
-I'd date a blue-eyed dude with a great smile.
-I'd go to Harvard.
As years passed, I began to realize that not all of these things would make me as happy as my 6-year-old self had envisioned. I don't always like working on cars. When I was 19 or 20 and shopping for my second car, I opted for a black, convertible Mustang (my Black Beauty ❤) over a red one because I thought it looked a bit more badass. Corn dogs > a perfect body. Massachusetts is home to some of the things that make me happiest (e.g., NKOTB!), but I wouldn't have been happy at Harvard. Even so, Harvard's always had a special place in my heart.
After Sean's and my visit to Harvard a few years back, I wanted to find a way to feel a little more connected to the place. Sean and I considered taking a class or two there as a sort of bucket list goal. I wasn't convinced that living in the Boston area for a semester or more to do it was right for us, however, so I started looking into their online courses. Though many of their offerings weren't in line with my career interests, I found plenty that fit my various personal growth goals. This was the answer! Unfortunately, Sean and I were traveling far too much at that time, often without our laptops and to places without Wi-Fi, and committing money to take courses that were important to us but that we had no way of guaranteeing we'd be able to complete hardly seemed practical.
A lot about these past couple of months has been negative for people worldwide, but there have been silver linings. For one thing, being stuck home has meant a perfect opportunity to finally buckle down and grind. We've taken advantage. Amongst other things, I registered for and spent 8 weeks and significantly more effort than necessary on Harvard's Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking online course! I squeezed every ounce of value I could out of it and passed with an A. If finally doing it, I figured I might as well do it right. It was just one of many small ways I plan to make the most of this year, and it may not be the end of my Harvard-related undertakings, but ticking it off the list after all this time feels meaningful.
So here I am, finally done with this and ready to celebrate before moving on to the next big thing. In the meantime, Sean's beasting the hell out of his much more technologically challenging Harvard course, CS50's Introduction to Game Development. He doesn't need it, but wish him luck anyway! I'll be cheering him on from the sidelines, drink in hand, for now. 🍾 I can't wait to see all he achieves and to decide on our next endeavors together!
Note for anyone interested in checking out Harvard's online course offerings: We personally opted for the paid and verified versions of our courses, though you can access much of the course material for free. If you go the free route, your work won't be graded and you may not have access to certain content. If you'd prefer to earn a verified certificate but can't afford the fee, there's a short application you can fill out to receive financial assistance, which will give you 90% off the cost.
My course: https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/rhetoric-art-persuasive-writing-and-public-speaking
Sean's course: https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/cs50s-introduction-game-development
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