One of Rose (Greeley) Rennekamp's life goals is to open doors of opportunity through education. She was the first in her family to earn a bachelor's degree, and she is grateful for the opportunities it provided.Rose was lucky to grow up in an era when US citizens viewed public education as an investment in the future. In grade school, she learned English and Spanish, attended an extended school day, and then did homework after dinner. On Saturdays, she and her pals studied math and science at a nearby junior high school. Rose's parents died when she was in junior high. She, her sister, and brother went to live with their grandparents in Southern Iowa. Her grandparents were intelligent, good, hard-working people and she was fortunate to have them. But they only had eighth grade educations from one-room country schools. They provided encouragement, but had few resources and could offer little guidance about college or careers. Counselors in that era gave girls little guidance or encouragement. Rose's high school counselor told her to get a degree in home economics--with a teaching certificate--so she could follow her husband wherever his career took them.Rose got that home economics degree and more. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in education and counseling. The husband came through, too. She's been married to the same guy for decades and has two happy and successful adult children. She also has two amazing granddaughters.Rose has counseled students in middle school through graduate school and helped her own children navigate college and launch careers. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Iowa. Rose has served as board president of the Iowa College Access Network, a director of the Kirkwood Community College Foundation, and on Kirkwood's Board of Trustees.Rose uses these combined experiences to write about college and career planning for teens and adults. She has written extensively about college and career planning. More than 250 newspapers across the country carried College and Career Corner, a column she wrote while vice president of communications at ACT, Inc. Rose's writing will never win literary awards. It isn't lighthearted or entertaining, either. The goal of her writing is simple: to provide accurate information that is easy to understand. She writes college and career information at an eighth grade reading level. Her advice is practical and easy to implement.Read more about this authorRead less about this author