Seeger notes that education can make a life-changing difference for incarcerated people both during and after their sentences. \u201cGetting a degree changes your trajectory. So much so, that you go from about 80% of incarcerated people to recidivate within 10 years down to 4%. If we really want to improve our justice system, we have to help people who are incarcerated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recidivism describes the tendency to reoffend after release from incarceration, a phenomenon that is often spurred by the difficulty of finding gainful employment or educational opportunities. \u201cThis is the most marginalized group in the country, and if I can make a difference in their lives, then I’m going to do it,\u201d Seeger continues. \u201cToo many people think, \u2018I can’t do this, I’m not smart enough.\u2019 This program is going to show that yes you can, you are smart enough. Also, with a degree you have better odds of getting hired with a living wage, rather than either not getting hired because you have a felony conviction, or only being hired into very poor paying jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently the program is in its early stages, and Seeger is creating a business plan while awaiting fellowship funding and preparing for the program\u2019s pilot year. \u201cWe won’t start with a lot\u2014only 20 students\u2014but there are 10 state prisons in Arizona, so at the end you’re talking 800 students a year,\u201d she says. \u201cHopefully within five years we’ll have it in every state prison, and if possible, go into the private prisons as well, because they have even fewer educational opportunities than the state prisons do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A veteran helping veterans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In addition to her involvement at NAU and work with the state\u2019s incarcerated population, Seeger is an active part of the veteran community in northern Arizona, serving as the president of the Grand Canyon chapter of the Military Officers Association of America. \u201cWe know we’re making a difference, and that’s important. We work with a lot of formerly homeless veterans, do scholarships for ROTC, and support veterans going to school at both CCC and NAU,\u201d she says. \u201cAnother thing we do for our chapter is put together a food bag and a first aid kit for homeless veterans. So, I know we’re making a difference in veterans\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeger discusses the role of this small but impactful community across the state. \u201cVeterans, we’re a very small community, especially up here in northern Arizona. Despite that, we have one of the largest memberships for a public health service because they’re also a part of the Military Officers Association. We’re proud of that because they work a lot on the reservations, and we know that we are helping in those respects as well,\u201d she says. \u201cThe people in our association have never stopped serving. We all take that to heart. I’m going to continue to serve not just the veteran communities but also NAU, because my undergraduate degree\u2014my first one\u2014gave me a lot. I just had such a wonderful time, and now I have a chance to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following her successful PhD completion, Seeger\u2019s journey from NAU undergraduate to distinguished veteran and community leader is far from over. \u201cYou know, too many people say, \u2018I can’t fix it all, so I’m not going to try,\u2019\u201d Seeger says. \u201cWell, I know I can’t fix it all, but I can fix one tiny little aspect of our world, and that’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’m focused on for incarcerated students, and who knows\u2014when I’m done with that, I may go do something else. For me, I’m still growing, even though I’m old. I’m still learning and still trying to figure things out, and I think that’s what makes a life worth living: not to be satisfied if you see something wrong. Figure out how you can fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAU alum Rebecca Seeger provides a brilliant masterclass in combining lifelong learning with a determination to do good in her state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":570,"featured_media":5545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[144,535,541,540,537,539,154,65,536,538],"class_list":["post-5516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-service","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-education","tag-college-in-prison","tag-curriculum-and-instruction","tag-department-of-teaching-and-learning","tag-graduate-student-government","tag-military","tag-phd","tag-rotc","tag-veterans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/570"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5516"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5563,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions\/5563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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