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Margaret Sparks is facing challenges head-on to get a BA. (Danny Abriel Photo) |
Margaret Sparks is fulfilling one dream at a time. First, she鈥檚 determined to get her Bachelor of Arts degree and then she鈥檒l work on becoming an opera singer. After that, maybe she鈥檒l take up painting or become a costume designer.
鈥淚 aim to get a BA in music with voice as my major,鈥� explains Ms. Sparks, who is in her early 70s. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first thing.鈥�
She took an 18-month-long nursing course at community college decades ago. Over a long career in the health-care system, she worked as a nurse, a lab assistant, a caregiver and a babysitter. Now she鈥檚 a AV俱乐部 student.
鈥淚 always wanted to go to university, but when I was young, we were living in the country. At that time, your parents had to have lots of money for you to go to school. It wasn鈥檛 only the school part, it was finding a place to board in the city. In the end, I just wasn鈥檛 university material, I guess. The only thing for me to do was to get a job.鈥�
Ms. Sparks is easing into university life by taking two courses: The History of Music and Conversational Italian. So far, the transition hasn鈥檛 been easy. She doesn鈥檛 have a computer or access to email. And she鈥檚 finding it tough to keep up with her homework. She鈥檚 not letting challenges stand in her way.
鈥淭he chance to learn, that鈥檚 the best part,鈥� she says with a smile. 鈥淚 think I鈥檒l settle into it soon enough.鈥�