All eyes on Jennifer Miller
Michelle Martin
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: TruLife
Fifteen years after senior Jennifer Miller began school at the University, she finally is about to graduate.
Miller said she started her education at the University in 1992 and was the first person in her family to attend college. Although she came in with a full scholarship, she said coming to school was a big adjustment.
"I'd never been away from home before," Miller said. "... I just wasn't very adventurous, and I was really shy, so shy that people would have to buy my stuff at the store for me. I didn't want to go to the cashier."
In addition to the typical roommate struggles of a freshman, Miller said struggling with a calculus class hindered her academic self-confidence.
"I had an instructor who didn't really teach," she said. "... And I did not do well in calculus. Partly because of that and because of my loss of self-confidence, having never gotten a D in anything before - [it] was a huge adjustment."
Miller said everything else went downhill after this initial setback.
"It was really a blow to my self-confidence, and I really didn't do as well the next semester," she said.
Miller said that soon after that she lost her scholarship and decided to go home and work for a semester, hoping that school would get better after her time off.
"I came back after the semester off and didn't do well then, either," she said. "I was dealing with a lot of issues, like I had come out [with being homosexual] to my mom. And I was having episodes where I'd be really, really happy, and I could not sleep at all for days then when I just didn't want to leave my room or my bed."
Miller said that for about a year and a half she remained enrolled at Truman but rarely attended class. Soon, Miller discovered she had been struggling with bipolar disorder, she said.
"I was on the verge of being kicked out, but I left on academic probation so I could get back in," she said.
Miller said she fared a lot better without school, mostly because she had less stress. For eight or nine years, she worked to pay off her student loans at home, she said. During this period, she said she also worked to completely come out to her family.
Miller said she started her education at the University in 1992 and was the first person in her family to attend college. Although she came in with a full scholarship, she said coming to school was a big adjustment.
"I'd never been away from home before," Miller said. "... I just wasn't very adventurous, and I was really shy, so shy that people would have to buy my stuff at the store for me. I didn't want to go to the cashier."
In addition to the typical roommate struggles of a freshman, Miller said struggling with a calculus class hindered her academic self-confidence.
"I had an instructor who didn't really teach," she said. "... And I did not do well in calculus. Partly because of that and because of my loss of self-confidence, having never gotten a D in anything before - [it] was a huge adjustment."
Miller said everything else went downhill after this initial setback.
"It was really a blow to my self-confidence, and I really didn't do as well the next semester," she said.
Miller said that soon after that she lost her scholarship and decided to go home and work for a semester, hoping that school would get better after her time off.
"I came back after the semester off and didn't do well then, either," she said. "I was dealing with a lot of issues, like I had come out [with being homosexual] to my mom. And I was having episodes where I'd be really, really happy, and I could not sleep at all for days then when I just didn't want to leave my room or my bed."
Miller said that for about a year and a half she remained enrolled at Truman but rarely attended class. Soon, Miller discovered she had been struggling with bipolar disorder, she said.
"I was on the verge of being kicked out, but I left on academic probation so I could get back in," she said.
Miller said she fared a lot better without school, mostly because she had less stress. For eight or nine years, she worked to pay off her student loans at home, she said. During this period, she said she also worked to completely come out to her family.
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