Shirley Reid

Student

“Normally it’s students who call their mom. I call my daughter and say, ‘Help! What do I do now?’”

“The major thing that’s helped me is the attitude at SMC,” says Shirley Reid, returning student and mother of three. “And that attitude starts with the man at the top. Dr. Moore’s whole plan is, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ And that just really agrees with me.”

Shirley took the major step in September of quitting her job and becoming a full-time student. “But I was so terrified I couldn’t measure up, I talked my girlfriend into enrolling too, just so I’d know somebody.” Little did Shirley know the very good company she would soon find at SMC. “When I got here, I found there were over 7,000 women between the ages of 25 and 60 who were returning to school,” she says. And Shirley quickly became a member of the campus organization “Women in Transition.” “We’re a big support group for women who need someone to hold their hand and let them know they can succeed.”

But Shirley, whose “ultimate dream is studying psychology at UCLA,” has another set of examples and encouragement in her own family. “My daughter graduated from SMC,” says Shirley. “And I watched her struggle. But now she’s in USC and she calls me with encouragement.” Another object lesson in being tough is her son. “My 14-year-old is developmentally delayed. But he’s progressing and fighting for his independence,” says Shirley. “So when I look at him, he gives me the courage I need to overcome my own problems.”

Shirley says, “I’d like to be a kind of missionary for education. There are just so many people in need of encouragement,” she continues. “So I plan to teach motivation and counseling. It’s just something that goes along with my heart’s desire.”

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