Continuing to thrive during pandemic by Rebecca

Continuing to thrive during pandemic by Rebecca - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

Three months ago, I reached my first educational goal of attaining my Career Pathways Certificate for Accounting Clerk and I am feeling motivated and excited to continue on to the next level of my educational success, an Associate of Science Oregon Transfer in Business. Today I need four classes to complete this goal and have already been accepted into Oregon State so that I can be working on the next goal, a Bachelor of Science in Business with a focus on hospitality and tourism. Now, more than ever, it is important that I continue forward with my educational goals as this industry faces a difficult future while we head toward recession and the challenges presented for business to continue to be successful in the face of pandemic. I believe by finishing my degree I will have to tools to help solve these issues and help build safe and thriving business in my community.
Over the past nineteen years I have worked at several restaurants, four of them have closed, resulting in the layoff of the entire staff. The last restaurant I had managed for nearly two years when the owners decided to bring on a former employee of the Oregonian to take over my social media duties. I learned that this person made nearly four times my wage to do a small portion of my job. I was inspired then to take a marketing class at Portland Community College to see if I could improve my skill set and make myself a more valuable employee. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed shortly after I finished the course, but I was inspired to learn more and moved in the direction of Accounting leading me to successfully complete the Accounting Clerk Certificate and placing me just a few classes away from an Associate’s degree in Business at Portland Community College and have already been accepted to Oregon State where I will begin upper division classes this year.
The past few months have been challenging for my industry and my family as we work through the problems for running a safe and successful business during social isolation. I have been fortunate to work for a talented, caring, and dedicated small business owner and team that has encouraged me to continue my education and worked hard to accommodate my schedule during these difficult times. Many of us have had to home school our children while working from home and learning how to take our college classes online. It has been a stressful experience, but I feel that our community has really come together and used all of our resources to help each other. I think it is more important than ever now to complete my degree and help develop solutions to these kinds of issues. I am confident that the skills I am learning will lead me to a more stable and higher income earning position. Although I do love working in restaurants and the hospitality industry, I believe earning a business degree will help me be a more valuable member of my community and have more options for stable employment.