Non-Traditional

By Eilene Lyon

I come from a line of college-educated women, going back to my great-grandmother, Clara Ransom Davis, who was a graduate in the third class of the University of Idaho (UI, Moscow) in 1898. She ensured her niece, nephew, and two daughters all went to the University.

Niece Clara Hockett, and daughters June and Clare Davis, all received their degrees and married at age 20, in traditional fashion.

Clara, who was stripped of her career as an educator and County Superintendent of Schools upon marrying in 1905 (at age 28), later went back to UI. In 1922, at age 45, she received her Master of Science in botany, setting a new family tradition of being a non-traditional student. She kept her hand in education by tutoring students who rented from her (including prospective husbands for her daughters and niece), and serving on the county school board.

My mother, Sylvia Halse, also went to college right out of high school. She received her Bachelor of Science in home economics in 1958, and married my dad at the end of her junior year. She was also a traditional homemaker. She had three children and once we were grown, she and my dad divorced.

Mom took the opportunity then to go back to school. She took some classes with a focus on Spanish at Wright State University. She also attended the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, receiving her Master of Theology in May 1986—a year after I finished my traditional post-high-school college degree programs.

The first opportunity for Mom to use her degree took her to Mesa Verde National Park that summer. While earning money working in food service at the Far View facility, she volunteered with Ministry in the Parks to conduct Sunday services. Following that stint, she traveled on to Oregon to be near her parents and sister.

Despite all her efforts, Mom was never hired to be a minister. Like her grandmother, she was thwarted in her career choice. She eventually channeled her spiritual efforts into working with incarcerated women in the Portland area. She enjoyed sharing the Bible and her music (she played guitar) with the women and remained friendly with some upon their release.

After I graduated from high school in 1980, I obtained an Associate Degree in law enforcement from the University of Cincinnati. I was never cut out for being a regular cop, though I did spend some time working in security at King’s Island amusement park. I do think I would have made a decent detective, though, particularly in white-collar crime.

For a time, after obtaining my bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ohio State University, I toyed with the idea of seeking a career in the FBI. I’m very glad I did not pursue that path! I’m a difficult employee in the private sector. Government bureaucracy would have driven me nuts.

When I transferred to Ohio State, I spent a year in the wildlife management program, hoping to work in the U.S. Forest Service (see “government bureaucracy,” above), but being in a second enormous university was difficult for me (both schools had over 50k students). I was soon flunking chemistry and in frustration switched to getting a business degree. Given my parents’ divorce and the Reagan presidency, a career in wildlife management seemed farfetched and impractical.

Fast forward a couple decades: After doing a variety of work, but mostly bookkeeping, I finally decided I was bored to tears. I registered to attend the local college, Fort Lewis College, majoring in environmental biology. Being in a small school with roughly 4,000 students, and being a non-traditional student, made all the difference.

My first class, on my first day? Chemistry. Ugh. Would I fail again?

Not only did I not fail, I was awarded the Freshman Chemistry Prize at the end of the school year—and I wasn’t even a chemistry major! I went on to minor in chemistry and geographic information systems. I received my second bachelor’s degree in December 2007.

Unlike my great-grandmother and mother, the environmental biology field welcomed me, even in my mid-40s. The world had changed a bit since great-grandma’s day! I enjoyed 11 years of field work and don’t regret either the three and a half years of additional schooling or the work I did.

Though I don’t plan on pursuing any advanced degrees, I am still a life-long learner. I’m currently working on the National Genealogical Society’s Advanced Skills in Genealogy course (18 months of self-paced work). Aside from formal coursework, I am always seeking ways to learn more about myself and about the world around me.

Feature image: My mother, Sylvia Halse, received her Master’s degree in 1986.