Back to School

The school year 2007-08 has officially begun. Many children are back to the grind; early to bed, early to rise, school lunch and homework. The children of Dallas Hulse and Metta Ray (pictured here) of Logan, Utah, are only three of the millions joining in the academia. TJ 11, the oldest and only boy, has just entered the sixth grade. He has left the world of elementary training and has gone on to a world of locker combinations and 8 one-hour classes. He told me this of his experience so far, "I love school so much, I wish we could skip the weekend and go right back to Monday." Although this may not be the view of most 11 year olds, TJ is enjoying his new found freedom at Mount Logan Middle School. "My favorite class is orchestra" said TJ who has just this year begun playing the viola in the school orchestra. Samantha 8, the next oldest, has started her school year at a new school, Wilson Elementary. (She and her siblings transferred from Woodruff Elementary at the end of the 06-07 school year) Samantha is now in Mrs. Bingham's 3rd grade class and has said "Mrs. Bingham is the nicest teacher ever, she doesn't yell at us or anything." Sam, as she likes to be called, was delighted to find that her life long friend is attending the same school. She can't wait for recess so that they can play together and wishes she didn't have to eat lunch with her class so that they could eat together as well. Paige 5, the youngest of the Hulse children, started kindergarten this year at Wilson Elementary with her sister. She is in Mrs. Coorbridge's class (there are only two kindergarten classes at Wilson) and loves her teacher. Kindergarten is half day and she wishes it would last all day so she could "eat lunch with the big kids" Paige said. Her favorite activity so far has been the flooding of the sandbox which is an event that the kindergarten teachers do on hot days to cool and entertain the children. As much as the grades K-6 sound entertaining and bring us back to our own childhood, their mother, Metta Ray has also gone back to school. She is attending Utah State University, also in Logan. Metta is a single mother and has decided to gain a degree in an attempt to give her family a more secure future as well as hopefully setting an example for her three young children. “I want my kids to see that amidst any obstacle it is possible (earning a degree) and obtainable” She said. Metta worked at Icon Health and Fitness for a number of years and had worked her way into a position in the marketing department at cooperate headquarters. She was earning a salary near $40,000 per year (which is pretty good for Logan) when she was laid off in 2005 due to budget cuts. After being laid off she began looking for work but found that no one would hire her in the income bracket she desired without a college degree. She decided to take on a part-time job as a bartender at a local private club (this way she could work nights and cut down the cost of day care) and look into going back to school. Metta is in her second year as a re-entry student and is taking 11 credits currently. She was accepted into the Journalism program at USU in the spring of 2007 and is currently a 3.55 GPA student. Metta works part-time to pay the bills and is also relying on student loans to get her and her family through. “I decided that no matter what it takes, I will finish school” she replied when asked about the difficult decision to put a financial burden on her family “No matter what the cost, it (a degree) will pay us back ten-fold”. Metta is scheduled to graduate in the fall of 2010.
A mother of three students and a student herself, Metta Ray understands very well the value of education. For now, Metta is satisfied with just going to school and putting in the time and effort to earn her degree and hopes her children will learn by her example the importance of going back to school.