My story starts back when I was 14 years old. At that time, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and passed away shortly thereafter. My mom didn’t have a college degree and hadn’t been working. I watched her struggle as she went back to school to get her degree so that she could support our family. When it was time for me to go to college, my mother told me that she loved me deeply, but that she wouldn’t be able to support me financially and that I would have to figure out how to get through school by myself. At that moment, I decided that no matter the challenge, I was going to put myself through college.

I went on to complete my associate degree in science at UVU. At this time, my nephew was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He spent his short life at the children’s hospital until he passed away. The day he passed away, my sister’s husband was out of town so I was the first one at the hospital and held the baby for a few hours while social workers figured out what to do. I saw this and was amazed that people did this for a career. They helped others to overcome extremely difficult problems and got paid to do so. I came home and decided to get a degree in psychology. This was no easy feat and required me to work full time while going to school full time. I was never able to just choose one of those options but have had to always do them both at the same time. After several semesters of this, I decided that I didn’t think I was able to do social work because I wouldn’t be separating work from my home life.

It was at this point that I decided to change universities and pursue my degree in exercise science. A few semesters into this degree, I had my first baby. At this point, I decided to drop out of school to start my family. Today, I am the proud mother of three beautiful boys — 9, 6, and 4 years old. In our family, we had a nontraditional situation. I provided for our family while my husband took care of the kids. It worked well for us and I moved my way up the corporate ladder, working for various retail companies.

After a while, I decided that I was good at business and could likely do it by myself. I decided that I wanted to start off on my own venture and start my own business. I went to the Small Business Development Center and worked with them to create a business plan and get funding for a new women’s clothing business. I did everything on my own: I built my own website, did my own photo shoots, and created the business from the bottom up. The business started doing well, really quickly. Three years into business I was about to break even! This was an amazing achievement for a women’s clothing business, which normally takes many years to break even. I had so much fun doing it!

Then life decided to throw a curveball at me and my family. My 4-year-old — then six months old — got bacterial meningitis and was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital. Our whole life was put on hold while we passed through this incredible challenge. It was terrifying to watch our six-month-old have four-hour-long seizures without stopping. Today, my 4-year-old is healthy and happy, and you would never have known he had faced such a difficult time. However, putting our life on hold had adversely affected my business. I suffered many losses during that time while I was focused on my family.

While we were in the PICU at Primary Children’s, my husband found his calling in life. He decided that he wanted to pursue a career in respiratory therapy and eventually work in that hospital. We decided that he should return to school while I would go back to work. I loved my job, mostly because I am so passionate about people, and my role was largely focused on their development. Helping people to get promotions, helping employees to onboard, and other things that allowed me to focus on their successes. My mantra has always been that my success is found in the success of those around me. Last year, my husband graduated with a degree in respiratory therapy and began to work in his dream job. Today, he is working in the same intensive care unit that our son was in just a few years ago.

Last year, with my husband’s graduation, I had the opportunity to re-evaluate what I was interested in. I am always thinking in terms of business, so what the question became “What will be the best return on investment?” For me, the best return on investment was to invest in myself so I could help those around me in a more comprehensive way — and I knew I could accomplish that by going back to school.

I was halfway through a psychology degree at UVU and halfway through an exercise science degree at another local university. I sent an email to both schools about my options, and, to this day, I haven’t heard anything from the other university. UVU personnel emailed back within hours, suggesting counselors and mentors that I could speak with to figure out how to finish my degree. Not only this, but UVU staff also reached out to me with scholarship opportunities, they told me about the Wee Care Center, and suggested other resources I could utilize while I returned to school. I was looking for a university that was just as invested in my future as I was, and this is what I found at UVU.

I met with a counselor in the Integrated Studies Department at UVU and told him that I had a million credit hours from two different universities. He sat with me and asked what my end goal was. I told him that I wanted to eventually pursue an MBA. We condensed my credit hours into an integrated studies degree in exercise science and business. I started right away, taking business classes online. In my natural form, I continued to work full time as I took 18 hours of business classes online. I found that when I challenged myself, I did my best work! After a few semesters of this, I needed to return to campus to finish my classes. I had to leave my job because I was thinking about my long-term goals and plans.

In July of 2019, I set a plan to graduate with my counselor. Two years after that point (2021), I will be finished with my MBA. Right now, I am slated to graduate this summer with my bachelor’s degree in integrated studies, and then begin the UVU MBA program in August. The challenges and difficulties in my life have prompted me to make bold decisions in my life and excel in the goals I set my mind to. Life is too short to not pursue your dreams. Even as a nontraditional student, there’s no reason you can’t finish your education with the type of support you get at UVU. Find your dream, and then go for it!