Last month mature student Kay Mitchell was conferred with an MA in English at NUI Maynooth. It was one of the proudest days of her life, not least because she never expected to end up with a university degree. "I come from a working class background, both my parents left school at 12 and there was never an expectation that any of us would go to College," she says.
"My father worked for the Board of Works and my schooling was disrupted because he was moved to a different job every few years. I remember being severely beaten by one teacher because I had learned to do things one way in one school and I was expected to do them differently in my new one. I also had problems because I had learned "joined up writing" (my new school wanted me to print) and because I had learned maths through Irish and wasn't as quick as the other kids when I had to do maths through English. All in all, my primary education was a pretty traumatic experience."
The Mitchell family eventually moved to Co Meath and Kay settled in school with the Mercy nuns. "I experienced nothing but kindness and encouragement from the Mercy sisters," Kay says. "My dad died suddenly when I was in fifth year and I missed a lot of time because my mum was devastated and found it difficult to cope. The nuns were very good to me and one nun in particular worked with me during all my free classes to try to help me catch up. I had been in the honours Leaving class but because I missed so much time I was advised to drop back to pass. That nearly broke my heart. At the time it was very hard to take, but in retrospect it was sound advice because I got a good pass Leaving and this enabled me to go to London to study nursing."
Kay Mitchell returned to Navan to work as a nurse in 1978. She got married, had two sons and spent 10 years at home as a full-time mum. When her second son was settled in school Kay decided to do a return-to-learning course run by her local VEC in Navan. "This course is the reason why I'm where I am today," she says. "It was a year long course and it helped you brush up on all your basic learning skills and we also had classes in liberal arts and classics. I was encouraged by the people running the course to think about going to Maynooth and I was stunned by their suggestion. The idea of going to study in the "hallowed halls" had never entered my head. I had no first hand experience of what University would be like and the thought of going terrified me."
Rather than making the jump from the VEC course directly to university, Kay Mitchell opted to sit English and classics in the Leaving Cert in 1995 as a preparation. She did very well and decided to apply to Maynooth. "It was really the only practical place for me to study and I was also attracted to it by its reputation for being `mature student friendly'. I had my interview and was accepted, but I ended up deferring for a year because I decided to do a year's night duty first for financial reasons."
Kay Mitchell started her degree in 1996 and she admits to finding it all fairly overwhelming to begin with. But once she settled down she was able to enjoy what she describes as "my three year journey of love". She studied English, history and Greek and Roman civilisation by day, went home and looked after things domestic and then went on night duty. "It meant doing without a lot of sleep," she says, "but it costs money to be a student and I needed to pay my way." Kay Mitchell obtained her BA with honours despite being ill during her final year and the trauma of her mother's sudden death just 13 days before her final exams began. "The staff in Maynooth were just fantastic when my mother died," she says. "People talk about universities being too big to have a human face. I certainly saw the human side of Maynooth when this happened."
Having done so well in her degree, despite such major setbacks, Kay Mitchell decided to go on for an MA. "I think it really only dawned on my husband and the boys just what all the hard work and effort had been about when they saw me getting my degree," she says. "Then they were all on for me to go for the MA. I have come further than I ever expected and I am still astonished that I have been through university and survived.
"I didn't find the work hard. I loved that. What was very hard was juggling everything else. This is something most mature students have to do and it's tough. Your time is not your own and I'd find myself having to sit up all night to get an essay done."
Kay Mitchell now tutors first-year English students at Maynooth part-time, and she loves it. "I am really enjoying the tutoring and while nursing is still very close to my heart I'm going to take some time now to decide what to do next."
