{"id":61303,"date":"2020-11-19T10:32:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T17:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=61303"},"modified":"2020-11-19T10:32:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T17:32:32","slug":"austin-newcombe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/austin-newcombe\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Austin Newcombe: After a football injury changed his college path, he found success through an NAU statewide location"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Newcombe<\/strong> is one step closer to accomplishing his goal of working in sports media and has a lot to celebrate. The path toward earning a degree wasn\u2019t as smooth as planned, but Newcombe overcame personal obstacles and is the first person in his family to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

Newcombe is part of the graduating cohort through NAU at Glendale Community College, completing a bachelor of science in communication studies.<\/p>\n

A sports enthusiast, Newcombe began his college career with a scholarship to play football in Colorado. He relocated from Arizona to pursue his dreams of playing college football and earning a degree. That plan ended when a concussion sidelined his football career permanently.<\/p>\n

He moved back to Arizona and continued his recovery, initially enrolling in courses at Mesa Community College. He earned an associate degree from Glendale Community College, then transferred to NAU and attended classes on the Flagstaff campus before discovering NAU\u2019s communication studies program on the Glendale Community College campus. This weekend, he will become the first person in his family to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoining this program has been the best thing that I\u2019ve done in my college career,\u201d he said. \u201cThe thing I found most inspiring about the program is the compassion that all the professors in the program have for their students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcombe said the communication studies faculty supported him every step of the way, which made his journey easier. Marie Baker-Ohler<\/strong> and Douglas Deiss<\/strong> are the two professors with whom he\u2019s had the most classes, and he said they helped him get out of his comfort zone and challenged him to do his best work.<\/p>\n

There were times when he doubted whether he would finish his degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought that I would be able to graduate with a bachelor\u2019s, and Dr. Baker-Ohler is making sure that is going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThey strive for their students to be successful in the classroom, and they push their students, because they see our true potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the cohort through NAU\u2019s statewide location at GCC, he developed close relationships with his faculty and peers. \u201cWhat I enjoyed most was the sense of family with my colleagues.\u201d The cohort met twice a week each semester as they finished their junior- and senior-level courses. \u201cWe all grew together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has exceeded his own expectations. \u201cI enjoyed the multiple academic challenges that my professors presented to me, because they allowed me to show my true work ethic and allowed me to reach higher than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcombe continues to find joy in football. He is part of the Willow Canyon High School football staff in Surprise, beginning as an intern before being appointed to a coaching position on the junior varsity team and as the video tech coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a coach has been awesome, because I enjoy sharing my knowledge of the game of football with the next generation,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I am not able to play, I\u2019m glad I can coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking forward to the future, he hopes to blend his interests in communication and sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to work for a professional sports team such as the Cardinals or Suns or even work for a company like the WWE. If I don’t go that route, I would rather try to become a football coach or work for a well-known company such as Apple,\u201d he said. \u201cNAU has helped me tremendously\u00a0to get ready to reach the goals that I have. Communication is the key fundamental for any type of relationship in the world. Being a communication studies major has helped me prepare for how to communicate more efficiently\u00a0in an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only has he improved his communication skills, but he has also strengthened his leadership skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAU has given me the tools and knowledge to learn how to become a better leader,\u201d Newcombe said. \u201cThis is helping me prepare so that I can take on a leadership role one day with a company. I know what it takes to be a good and effective leader. If it wasn’t for the NAU at Glendale Community College program, I would have never known how important communication is in an organization, and I wouldn’t be as effective of a leader as I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Newcombe is one step closer to accomplishing his goal of working in sports media and has a lot to celebrate. The path toward earning a degree wasn\u2019t as smooth as planned, but Newcombe overcame personal obstacles and is the first person in his family to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree. Newcombe is part of the…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":61305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61303","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\/61303","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\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}