Shannon, You raise a number of very good questions about relating to students. This is an ongoing challenge for instructors for some of the reasons you list. The diversity of the student population demands that you develop an approach that will enable you to connect with the recent high school graduates as well as those that are going through the course to train to enter another career. By pulling on their life experiences along with your own and you have a very rich background you all will be able to find common ground and then move forward as a united learning community. Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.