Setting an Example for Her Daughter

When Deborah Lancaster’s life took some difficult turns, she didn’t give up her hope of earning her bachelor’s degree or making sure her daughter went to college. She threw herself into her studies and persevered through thick and thin.

When she joined Life University as a secretary in 1989, Deborah was thrilled that employees received free tuition. Busy with full-time work and a little daughter, she finally found time to begin classes in 1997. But the next year her father died and she needed time off. Just as she was preparing to resume classes, her husband became ill and died the next year. On the heels of two heart-wrenching losses, and with a 15-year-old to raise alone, Deborah immersed herself in Life’s business administration program and started juggling 15-20 credit hours each quarter.

“I wanted to do it for myself, but I also really wanted to set an example for my daughter to teach her the importance of education,” Deborah explains. A few years later, that lesson became even more important. Deborah’s daughter had graduated from high school by then, took a few years off from school and thought her opportunity for an education had passed. “I wanted to show Ashley that you aren’t given a time limit for learning. I was 48 when I finished my degree,” Deborah says. Today, Ashley is enrolled in a criminal justice program and plans to transfer to Life to complete the new psychology degree.

In addition to being a role model for her daughter, Deborah is thrilled with the new skills she’s gained through the business administration program, and she’s applied them on the job. “I’ve gained so much in leadership and team building skills. I’m putting projects together, leading groups and working better with others. Plus, completing the degree gave me more self confidence.” Completing the program with magna cum laude honors, and receiving the President’s Leadership and Entrepreneurship Award and the Dr. Ron Kath Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award gave her a nice boost too!

Deborah especially liked learning about marketing and public relations, and is using those skills with her newly added responsibility as tour coordinator for the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies. She enjoys speaking to prospective students and accompanying faculty visiting other campuses, where she talks to mature students about LIFE. She’s also reaching out to alumni of Life’s undergraduate programs to encourage them to attend Homecoming.

Never one to rest on her latest accomplishment, Deborah is also getting some business consulting experience under her belt. She’s helping create business and marketing plans for one friend who is opening a new restaurant and for another who owns a professional minor league football team.

“Knowing what I know now, I would have pursued my education a lot earlier in my life,” Deborah says. “But, going to school as an adult brought me through hard times, gave me focus, and enabled me to be a role model for my daughter.” If she continues to follow her mom’s lead, Ashley’s likely to be successful too.   

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