Two Pathway Students Graduate from BYU-Idaho

Shawna Lee Banks and Lisa Holden recently graduated from college with Bachelors Degrees.  This was quite an achievement for both of them.  Here are their stories.

Lisa Holden

Left: Shawna Banks, Right: Lisa Holden

     It was such an honor for me to be able to finish a lifelong goal of receiving my Bachelor’s Degree from BYU-Idaho. When I first heard the presentation about the Pathway Program I knew it was a way for me to finish. I had completed an AA degree from Delta College and I attended three semesters at UOP. UOP was too expensive for me to continue at that time when I still had a growing family at home. Heavenly Father provided a way for me to finish and I am so grateful that I followed the prompting and finished. I had many science courses over the years so the Public Health degree fit perfectly with my previous  college work. 

   I also felt it was such a blessing to take courses which always included the Savior and His gospel in our curriculum. I will always be grateful for this blessing in my life and at the same time I prepared myself to enter the working world with a degree if the need  should arise.

Shawna Lee Banks

    In the fall of 2015, I began a journey to complete a bachelors degree in Healthcare Administration. At the time I had been working for a Pediatrician for 6 years as his office manager. I had taken multiple classes at the local community college to improve my skills. But let me back up just a bit. After high school, I attended Ricks College for 3 semesters and left in good standing. Dave and I got married that July and stayed in Illinois to pursue school, work, and family. I started attending the local community college and graduated from there in December of 1998. Through the years I had worked in multiple fields and had finally landed in a pediatric office. I returned to school to continue improving my skill, but then my oldest daughter graduated from high school. I decided that if I was going to complete a bachelors degree before any of my kids did, I needed to get busy working on it.

    I thought about doing the Pathway program, but the closest one was a 2 hour drive from my home. With working full time and a house full of kids, this wasn’t an option. I then started looking to see if I could return as an online student. I was thrilled to find that they had a degree in Healthcare Administration and that it was available to me. I sent in my request to return and began my first classes the fall semester of 2015. I found the program to be excellent! The students and teachers engaging and eager to help. I wanted to show my kids that I could do hard things. I also wanted them to see how important education is to me by my example.

    The opportunity and experience is one of the greatest of my life. If anyone is wondering about doing Pathway or going back to school online, I would say do it! It is completely worth the time and energy.