By day she's an employee relationship specialist in Human Resources for the Bank of Butterfield, but two nights a week Tamika Wade-Trott exchanges her office for a classroom at the Bermuda College.

What makes Mrs. Wade-Trott different from all the other students at the college is that this 44-year-old mother is enrolled in the College for Working Adults and will be part of the first class to graduate under this initiative in May 2008.

With a broad smile and soft laugh she admits that this was always something she wanted to do, but just never found the time:

"When they first started the initiative and they were having information sessions, I knew it was the programme for me.

What was best about it was that these were regularly scheduled classes. I know that every Tuesday and Thursday night and Saturday morning I will be in class and that's for the whole two years, so I didn't have to worry about chopping and changing. So I could schedule my time accordingly."

She's studying for her Associates Degree in Business Administration and adds that another benefit of the initiative is that she will be graduating with the same classmates she started with just over a year ago, so friendships were forged and they came to rely on each others' strengths.

"While English and writing are my strengths, I'm challenged mathematically so my classmates, who were strong in math and accounting would help me. We would get together after class and they basically helped pull me through. We have built relationships and I know we'll be friends for life," she surmises.

"I will never forget one Saturday morning we had a test (in accounting) and I just totally panicked and bombed out. I had studied, but it just went from me," she recalls. "After the test I packed my bag and left the classroom bawling my eyes out. I just thought 'How am I going to do this?' But it was so reassuring because my classmates called me and said they would help me get through it.

That was the defining moment for me. It was during my first year and I'll never forget it because it gave me a little something I needed to keep going. I think I got a C in Accounting One, but I passed Accounting Two with an A."

On average there are between 15 to 18 students in her classes — depending on whether or not day-time students attend to make up missed classes — and she attends three four-hour classes a week:

"If I missed a class it was usually because of my work, but I can count on one hand the times I have missed. It's never an option. I even got married around my schedule."

Mrs. Wade-Trott has an 18-year-old son, Adio Robinson, and with a chuckle explains how he teased her at first, not about going back to school, but because they were taking the same subjects.

Adio is completing his last year at the Bermuda Institute and regularly helped his mother with many of her math and calculous "issues".

"I had to put my education on hold until later because I needed to ensure he did the things he needed to do to make sure he was a well-rounded individual, but now that he is older, I could go back and do this for me," she says with a smile.

She adds that her family were very supportive of her decision and her mother regularly attended PTA meetings if she attending a class and her husband, Troy Trott, jumped in to help out with meals on weekends.

Just like her, he too recently obtained his Associates Degree and is returning to New England Tech next year. "I guess you can say we're just an education loving family," she adds with a laugh.

She says that the Bank of Butterfield have also been very supportive of her decision to go back to school and with a laugh describes it as a "flip-flop" situation. "Rather than getting an eduction to support my career, I've got the career and I'm now getting the education to support it!"

Thanks to her experience, she has recommended the College for Working Adults to others, of which at least half a dozen people signed up.

"As long as you have life and breath there is hope and you should not give up on this dream. The College for Working Adults is ideal for non-traditional students (older students) we are the majority in the classroom.

My advice to them is go to an information session and find out what it's all about. I don't care how old you are, if this is something you really want to do, do it!"

Mrs. Wade-Trott has already been accepted to Ashford University in Iowa in the US to complete her Batchelors Degree online.

"Getting my Associates though the College for Working Adults was just the start of my journey," she concludes.

"To anyone considering it, it's worth it. The expense is reasonable and the campus is here, the library is here and they make it very easy for you do to your research. Also because the faculty recognise that there is a difference between adult learners and traditional students, they will go the extra mile by putting on extra tutorials.

"The emphasis is very much on how can they help us succeed and it has been a positive experience. For me it wasn't so much an option of if I'm going in, but when!"