Katharyn Richt, the first lady of University of Georgia football, is back in school with the full support of her husband, UGA football coach Mark Richt, and the rest of the family. Richt, who earned a degree in economics at Florida State University in 1987, plans to take several classes at Athens Tech before applying to its nursing school. Richt shared some of her personal thoughts with AJC external content editor Tim Ellerbee, including her No. 1 goal: To get into a position to help others.

I wish I would have figured out what I wanted to do with my life sooner, because I could have gone to nursing school during my college years at FSU instead of studying economics.

My mother always said we could do whatever we wanted, but she hoped it would be some type of service to help others. I remember that advice, but I really didn't focus on others early in my life, only on myself.

I wish I could tell you I had a "Eureka" moment that led to my decision, but it wasn't like that. I just decided sometime after Georgia's bowl game in January that I would jump in with both feet and get busy. So that's what I did, after 22 years between classes.

Because I have a BS in economics and a minor in business, I have some classes — sciences mainly — that I need to take before I can even apply to nursing school.

I am working with Athens Tech, and they are great help. They say it will probably be next year before I can apply for their nursing school with all the classes I am trying to get done.

Nursing school is my dream now — now because my heart is to serve others. I love mission work and I would love to be able to help those sweet children and people feel better and get well. On a simple level, I am hoping I can communicate God's love for them by nursing them.

Once I get into nursing school it will take two years to go through the program. I am concerned about having three teen-agers at home, because I feel I need to be available to them. So it will be somewhat of a balancing act, but if the Lord is willing, I can do it.

Right now, I am only taking one online class — Medical Terminology — so I do not have any contact with other students or professors. But I am sure they will see me as any other student — striving to gain the knowledge and understanding I need to be able to be a good nurse.

Although I'm taking one class, I study a lot — two hours a day or more if I need to. I think it has been good for our children to see that I am willing to work hard to get good grades.

I definitely could not do this without the full support of Mark and the children, because it does take time away from all of them. They have to cook sometimes. They encourage me to study. They stay quiet while I'm studying, and they clean a lot. And if I make it into nursing school, I am sure it will be a lot harder on all of us.

But that's my dream. We'll make it work.

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