It took Amanda Jones a little while to figure out that she wants to be a veterinarian.
But now that the 23-year-old has made up her mind, she's decided to go for her dream in a big way.
And that meant returning to school to complete her GED, which she will celebrate at her graduation tonight at Henderson Community College's Fine Arts Center.
"I was getting into trouble and doing stuff that I really shouldn't have been," the Corydon resident said of her reasons to quit high school after her sophomore year.
After considering the idea of going back to school for two years, Jones decided she really would do it.
In fact, because she had retained so much of her studies from her previous years in school, she was able to pass the GED within two months of when she started.
Upon entering the Adult Education Center at the college, she took a test to help professors there figure out where she needed the most assistance.
It turned out that that was in math.
"It was pretty hard," the wife of Dustin Jones said. "But whenever my teacher was helping me, he kind of brought it all back."
She began her work to receive her GED in September, taking classes for about two or three hours per day three days a week. She took the GED exam -- and passed -- in November.
Jones said her quick success was due in part to Cary Conley, an instructor in the Adult Learning Center who "explains everything the way it needs to be explained."
Now ready to start her second semester at HCC in August as a biology major, she said she feels prepared for her studies as a full-time student.
The best thing is "just being there and knowing I'm doing something that I want to do and that's actually good."
