{"id":55553,"date":"2019-05-07T08:53:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T15:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=55553"},"modified":"2019-05-07T08:54:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T15:54:45","slug":"graduate-billie-mcbride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/graduate-billie-mcbride\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Billie McBride: Nontraditional student finds motivation from two generations of family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 6, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billie McBride<\/strong> is\nthe first in her family to graduate from NAU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She isn\u2019t the first Lumberjack, though. In 1954, her father\ncame to NAU on a football scholarship. He blew out his knee early in his career\nand couldn\u2019t afford tuition, so he dropped out and got a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That family history has been on McBride\u2019s mind as she\nre-entered the world of higher education after her divorce, earning an\nassociate\u2019s degree from Eastern Arizona College before finding NAU\u2019s general\nand special education dual certification program. It was a great fit for the\ncareer she wanted and to close the door her father left open 64 years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

\u201cAs I get closer, I know I am doing it for both of us,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I was younger, I struggled in school. My father saw potential in me even when I gave up. I have striven to do my best in my college classes, and I push myself to show him I can be a straight A student and graduate with honors.\u201d

McBride\u2019s journey didn\u2019t involve a knee injury, but it wasn\u2019t an easy process for her either. She studied while working full-time and raising four children who are now teenagers and young adults. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As much as that made her work harder, though, it also gave her purpose. Even though she still has student teaching ahead of her, she opted to walk in the May graduation so her daughter, who\u2019s leaving soon for a church mission, could attend. Her children motivated her to finish, just as they motivated her to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also credited the opportunities for collaboration with\nher fellow students and her professors, particularly Anthony Osborn<\/strong>, a faculty member in the general and special\neducation dual certification program. She was able to turn to him for help, she\nsaid; Osborn, in turn, talked about the kind of student Osborn was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the time that I have had the pleasure of knowing her, I\nhave been amazed at her resiliency, tenacity and dedication to her studies,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cShe has juggled her responsibilities as a mother, has been a dedicated\ndaughter to her ailing mother, worked full-time and contributed to her\ncommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Billie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After completing her student teaching, McBride is hoping to\ntake over as a full-time teacher in the elementary school class where she is\nnow the long-term substitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NAU<\/figure>
\n


Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 6, 2019 Billie McBride is the first in her family to graduate from NAU. She isn\u2019t the first Lumberjack, though. In 1954, her father came to NAU on a football scholarship. He blew out his knee early in his career and couldn\u2019t afford tuition, so he dropped out and got a job. That family…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":55560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}