Quiet as Church Mice: A Working Mom’s Return to College
It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and Leslie Matthews’ children have suddenly become quiet as church mice — a departure from the typical midday clamor that usually echoes throughout the house. They know the routine. Mom’s got an exam.
“When I have a proctored test, everybody quiets down,” said Leslie, smiling. “My family is my biggest supporter.”
Such is the life of Leslie Matthews — wife, mom to two young kids, 30-hour-a week-employee and since last summer, full-time UNC Charlotte student.
Last year, Leslie applied through her employer Amazon’s Career Choice program to attend UNC Charlotte tuition-free so she could earn her bachelor’s degree in sociology.
“It was pretty easy,” she said, of the program’s application process. “Everything is through an app.”
Amazon’s agreement with UNC Charlotte is just one of many tuition benefit partnerships the University has with other businesses that provide employees opportunities to further their education.
“I think Amazon does a good job trying to get people to explore other worlds,” said Leslie. “I think it shows a lot of care for its employees.”
Like many people who return to college as adult learners, Leslie wanted more than a job. She wants a career. Right now she works third shift as a counter at Amazon, but she hopes earning her sociology degree will lead to a career in human resources or maybe even school counseling.
“I’ve always had this helping character,” she said. “Working at Amazon, you meet so many different people from different parts of the world that don’t know all the resources out there, and there’s also barriers. So I’m always the go-to person at work that people come to.”
Her desire for a career goes even deeper than just helping people, though. “Being married and having just my husband with the career, I kind of felt left out,” she said. “I wanted to show my kids that a man is not the only person who can succeed in life, careerwise.”
Leslie graduated from high school in 2015, and earned her associate’s degree in 2019. Returning to school was nerve-wracking initially, she said. She worried she would feel too old or if things had changed too much since the last time she was in class.
“You just have to overpower those feelings and realize everyone here is looking for the same opportunity you’re looking for,” she said. “You can’t really compare yourself with age or with any other factors.”
So far, Leslie calls her college experience amazing.
Favorite course? “Social Inequality. It just opened my eyes to stuff I already knew, but it dug deeper and made me think.”
Most fun course? “I took a theatre elective and enjoyed it. Our professor sent us to see Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar performed in Charlotte.”
Most challenging course? “Statistics. I have always struggled in math, so I don’t know how I’m doing it — if it comes with growth and maturity — but I’m sitting at an 89%.”
Her best advice to someone considering a return to college?
“Go back to school,” said Leslie. “The world will still move if you quit a job that you don’t like. There will always be another opportunity out there for you. You just have to take that leap.”
For Leslie, the leap is already underway. It happens in small moments—after long shifts, between family responsibilities, and on afternoons when the house goes still. Those quiet moments are where her future is taking shape.