UNLV student facing yet another graduation delay

Debra D. Bass

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

There's a little voice inside Sheryl Parks telling her to take life easy, to be thankful for what she has, to stop striving for more.

That voice is very frustrated because she isn't listening.

Parks has learned to accept the good with the bad. She talks casually about being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and enthusiastically about her future.

At 33, she laughs that "college hit me late." She actually started attending colleges a decade ago. At the time, she wanted an associate's degree in paralegal services, but is now bent on getting a bachelor's degree in political science from UNLV.

Working as a paralegal, Parks said she was dismayed that over the years more and more attorneys were younger than she was.

She has made a commitment to herself to begin law school in the fall of 1998, calling it the "steppingstone to the fruition of my dreams." Her dream is to practice defense law and hold a political office one day.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has offered Parks another steppingstone, selecting her for an 11-week internship in his Washington, D.C., office beginning June 2.

In a letter, the senator touts the experience as an opportunity for her "to help with constituent services, witness the development of pending legislation and learn about the governmental process and about the history of our nation's capital."

It embodies yet another good-news-bad-news episode in her life. The internships pays $1,000, but the 10-week stay, including food, airfare, housing and a transit pass, will cost her nearly $4,000.

"About a week ago I was very depressed about the whole thing, but now I'm just weighing my options and looking for the best," Parks said.

Her husband is an Air Force officer who is not keen on her going away but knows her too well to hold her back. He has contacted a military base in Maryland -- located just outside Washington, D.C. -- to see if it has any spare rooms. If nothing else comes through, she says she'll borrow from the money she intended for her schooling, which could delay but will not thwart her graduation.

It's taken the college junior so long to graduate because her husband has a habit of being reassigned. Their seventh-grade son has gone to seven different schools in as many years.

"We manage to adapt pretty well. We love Las Vegas," Parks said, noting that they have purchased a home. "I figured maybe if I buy a house, then he won't dare move me again."

Born at a U.S. miliary base in Okinawa, Parks is used to adapting, having lived in more places than she can name in one sitting.

She says she has followed her husband around for 14 years and now it's time to plant some roots and become part of a community.

"Vegas still has this small-town mentality," Parks said. "It's easy to get involved, and once you do, it's hard to stop."

Even when plagued by strange symptoms and fatigue, she continued to volunteer in political campaigns and at her son's school.

She was diagnosed with Graves' disease, or exopthalmic goiter, in February. It took a while for doctors to give her ailment a name.

The most pressing symptom is an overactive thyroid gland -- this controls an adult's metabolic rate or amount of energy expended at any given time.

In the coming months she will undergo radiation therapy to "kill my thyroid," which means she'll likely be on medication the rest of her life to rebuild the gland.

"You'd think I'd have a lot more energy, but it works exactly opposite," she explained. "There are a lot of different risks if I don't get it under control, but I'm not out of control yet. It's like I've got this last push and I want to finish. I've got to finish."

Anyone interested in helping Parks take advantage of the internship can call 393-4098.