Kendra's Story: “Just Start.”

Kendra Jodry hadn’t planned on going back to school. “I’m the first one in my family to do post-secondary,” she says. “So, it wasn’t really a ‘go back’—it was more like, ‘take a leap.’”

At the time, she was running a day home and spending her days caring for her three children. “They’re not going to be here forever,” she remembers thinking. “So, what do I do after they’re all in school?”

Having previously worked casually in her community’s primary school, Kendra realized she enjoyed working with children. One evening, while sitting with a friend, she applied to Northern Lakes College (NLC) on the spur of the moment. “I was just like, ‘I'm going to throw it in there. If I get approved, it’s meant to be. If I don’t, it isn’t.’ It had been 16 years since I graduated from high school.”

When her acceptance letter came, Kendra remembers calling her husband. “I was like, ‘Oh no—what did I do?’ I honestly didn’t think I was getting in.” But her husband was quick to support her decision. “He said, ‘Well, you’re in. So, start.’”

Kendra began the Educational Assistant Certificate in 2017, studying out of the Athabasca region. She extended the program over two years so she could continue caring for her children and day home clients. Upon completing the certificate, she transitioned into NLC’s University Studies program and bridged into the University of Calgary’s Community-Based Bachelor of Education. The structure of the programs allowed her to keep living in Athabasca and maintain her work and parenting responsibilities.

Kendra credits NLC for giving her the confidence to pursue a university degree. “I’ve attended a few post-secondaries,” she says, “but during my time as an Educational Assistant, it was such a supported journey.”

She completed her university studies coursework through NLC before finishing the final year of her degree through the University of Calgary. “I don’t think I ever dropped below a 3.86 or 3.87 GPA,” she says. “It always feels weird to brag, but this is the time to brag, right?”

Though she was often on the move, Kendra made it work. “Some of my profs and former colleagues still laugh - there are pictures of me Zooming into class from Kung Fu class or while driving, with a kid holding the phone,” she recalls.

But despite her busy schedule, Kendra’s greatest challenge came during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was homeschooling teenagers and elementary kids, and I still had my day home kids. So, I was doing their school too.” Her strategy for getting through it? “Same thing I tell the kids I work with now: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Today, Kendra works in a junior high/high school diversity program. While she once considered teaching in adult education, her final practicum experience changed her mind. “I had a couple groups of kids who had a lot of pep and were a little unhinged - and I really, really enjoyed it,” she laughs. “You can have these amazing, in-depth, real-life conversations with them, and then still turn around and say, ‘No, please put your feet on the floor.’”

It's work she finds rewarding, drawing from her own experiences as a teenager. “Had I not had somebody who gave me some grace and space when I was making poor decisions, I wouldn’t have finished high school, that’s for sure!”

Kendra isn’t sure exactly what the future holds, but she’s open to possibility. “Five years from now, I hope to still be at our high school,” she says. “Maybe I’ll teach English or stay in the diversity program. It’s kind of neat - it pulls from my educational assistant experience and years working with younger kids, but I still get to work with sassy teenagers.”

For those considering post-secondary education, Kendra’s advice is simple: “Just start. If you sit and overthink, you’re going to talk yourself out of it. You don’t always have to have a defined destination - just get going and see where the journey leads.”