这是24岁的Lisa Gianturco
通过目标寻找快乐
Lisa Gianturco has worked as a chemical engineer. She spent two years living abroad in Singapore. She got married, raised her kids, and saw them off to college. Now, she’s writing her next chapter with Loyola University 新奥尔良. 赢得她之后 master’s degree in pastoral studies 这可能, she’s one step closer to becoming a board-certified chaplain and pursuing her calling to help others.
“I graduated in 1983 with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering, 我工作了15年, 我称之为, 在激烈竞争中. Then I got married and decided it was time to have a family, and I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom,丽莎解释道. “When they got into school, I started doing social justice work volunteering at my church. I realized I had the opportunity to volunteer as a chaplain and then started working and realized what great joy I got from that. I had finally answered what I believed was actually a call to do that.”
Lisa decided that if she would pursue this new career, she wanted to do it right. After consulting with the National Association for Catholic Chaplains, she found that Loyola was listed as an educational partner and would meet all of the requirements to get board certified as a chaplain.
三个月内, I enrolled with Loyola to get my master's degree with the idea being, if I'm going to be a chaplain, I'm going to approach it professionally just the way I did it in my first career as an engineer,丽莎说.
Combining Coursework and Life Experiences
After 40 years away from higher education, Lisa had her hesitations about going back to school. But she had also accumulated a wealth of knowledge and life experiences in that time to enrich her studies.
“Yeah, I was concerned, but everyone is so supportive here. 我的导师帮助了我, they're always available to talk and work with you as you get back into that groove. It's just a matter of committing to it because the staff and the teachers here will support you, 他们会和你一起工作,丽莎说.
From roaming the “stacks” in the library during her undergrad years to exploring digital research databases from home, education has come a long way in those 40 years. But Lisa has embraced the new opportunities for enrichment, with the staff at Loyola there to support her along the way.
“The staff here is phenomenal when it comes to support for distance learning. There's always somebody there that you call on the phone,” Lisa shares. “But it’s kind of opened up that whole world to get in and to have access to all that information and the ability to learn and grow, 是什么养活了我.”
不仅仅是打勾
When Lisa first applied to 罗耀拉在线, it was just a box she had to check in her pursuit of her chaplain certification. But through her studies and the relationships she built with faculty and classmates, the pastoral program has grown to mean so much more to Lisa.
“It moved from something that I had to do to something that I really wanted to do,” Lisa explains. “In terms of opening myself up and creating an online community, 培养我的信仰, and just seeing the world through a whole different lens.”
It’s never too late to pursue your calling. If you’re thinking about going back to school, explore undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs 可在洛约拉在线. For individual questions and support, connect with an admissions counselor by emailing online@vitower.com 或者发短信504-588-6025.