Single mother juggles pursing a Master’s Degree and raising a six-year-old daughter and her teenaged brother

By Nadia Arandjelovic

When Christia Swan became pregnant with her daughter, Sakairi, at age 19 her dreams of completing a university degree were temporarily put on hold.

But since then the 25-year-old has been determined to finish her studies and prove to herself and others exactly what’s she’s made of.

Ms Swan is currently pursuing a Master of Pharmacy degree at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.

Thanks to a $10,000 scholarship she recently received from Phoenix Stores, she is huge step closer to her goal of becoming a pharmacist.

“We don’t always want to think about the money it takes to pursue your dream, but that’s the only way to get there, by paying your tuition,” she said. “With this support I know I am going to finish. I plan to graduate in 2017.”

After having her daughter, Ms Swan had to leave school at Alabama Oakwood University — where she was studying Biology — and return to the Island to find work to support her child.

“I couldn’t stay in school because it was such a financial burden trying to find someone to watch my daughter during the day, so I came home to work at the bank,” she said. “It was a good experience, but I wanted a degree in something that would be more exciting and challenging for my brain.”

She started looking into careers that would allow her to use her love for math and science; and began considering the different jobs available at the hospital.

A volunteer opportunity led her to the pharmacy and she enjoyed it so much she decided to go back to school to become a pharmacy technician.

Her academic journey started at Liverpool Community College in 2012.

Ms Swan needed to have 30 credits of distinction to get into a university and thought she would be helping herself out by taking 90 credits, in case her grades weren’t up to par in some of the modules.

But she was thrown an unexpected curve when she learned her choice university required that she have distinctions in every single module she was taking.

“I just had to work hard in all my subjects and was able to get the 90 credits at distinction, which is a 4.0 average when you convert it from the British system. That’s an ‘A’,” she said.

Now pursuing her master’s degree, Ms Swan also has to juggle the responsibilities of being a mother to her six-year-old daughter and looking after her 17-year-old brother as well.

She looks at her studies as being a full time job and has been committed to studying each weekday from 9am until 5pm.

“I take my daughter to school for 9am and will spend the rest of the day studying until I have to pick her up from her after school programme at 6pm,” Ms Swan said. “Sometimes my classes go all the way to 9pm.

“But I will typically take my daughter home and get her fed and showered, and after tucking her into bed I will stay up until midnight and study.

“Then wake up at 6am and get us all ready and do it all again.”

Although she works hard in the week, she makes sure to take the weekends off so she can spend quality time with her family.

She uses some of her past struggles as motivation to succeed.

“I never wanted to go back to a low paying job and not be able to work and enjoy life,” she said, “because at one point I was living from pay cheque to pay cheque”.

“I had to work two jobs — one at the Bermuda hospital as a pharmacy technician and also at People’s Pharmacy as a dispensary cashier — just to be able to go back to school.

“That’s what motivated me. I don’t want to struggle anymore and now that I am studying to be a pharmacist I enjoy studying the course work and find it interesting.”

Ms Swan said she also wants to be a good example for her daughter and prove to her that hard work does pay off.