Stephanie Thiel:  

o better academically, and not party so heavily, or at all. There are so many times that I see students bullying others and I know that I have done that and it kills me now. I wish I could go back to all the people who I treated badly and say how sorry I am because I truly am. College Another regret....not finishing college when I was younger. I went to Bellevue Community College on a two-year tennis scholarship right out of high school. That was the greatest experience. But, I stopped there when I shouldn't have. I got married and moved to Arizona. I worked while my husband finished his BA and then his MA. It wasn't until my third daughter was born and a few years old that I realized that I had not yet met my potential. I knew that I needed to finish my education so I went back to school in my 30s. I started back at Arizona Western in Yuma and finished with an AA. I was plan on attending Northern Arizona University (they had a campus in Yuma) but we moved to the Phoenix area so I transferred to ASU where I graduated two years later. It was difficult because I was raising three young children and going to school at the same time. So, not a lot of fond memories for me but a lot of hard work, well worth it, though. Workplace I worked trivial jobs while putting my husband through school. When we moved to Yuma, I found a job working as a legal secretary. I loved it because it was very interesting and law is what I was taking at BCC so I knew a little bit about it. It also paid well and opened lots of doors for me. I became very active in our local and state legal secretaries associations. I held most of the offices and I was awareded "Legal Secretary of the Year." Also, there is test to become a certifed "professional legal secretary." There were only three legal secretaries in Yuma to had that distiction. It was difficult to get because there were no testing sites in Yuma. To take the 2-day, 16 hour exam, you had to go to Phoenix. I did and passed and became certified. I also implemented a PLS (Professional Legal Secretary) study group and had about 5 secretaries studying. Ultimately 4 of the five passed and became certified. After working for the same attorney and firm for a number of years, I went to work as a legal assistant for a criminal attorney. That only lasted 1.5 years, it was difficult to work with that part of the law. Defending child molesters (admitted) and rapists were not for me so I went back to my safe job with the other firm. My attorney because the city attorney for the city of Yuma and I went with him. I did that for 14 years and I loved every minute of it. I went from that to teaching. I almost went to law school instead of getting my MA but I was older and didn't feel like it was a possibility at that point in my life. I have no regrets with the profession I have chosen. It is more difficult than I ever imagined, especially with the family units breaking down the way they are but at least I can have a bit of a positive influence and I like that.