Katrina Davidson-Shea, a U.S. Air Force veteran and mother who is expecting her fourth child in October, will graduate with a degree in English and history and a sterling 4.0 GPA this week.
Davidson-Shea said after originally deciding to minor in history, the decision to pursue a double major seemed practical since it would require the same amount of work.
“I took English originally because I wanted to specialize in technical writing. (Labs, corporations) always need writers for their documents,” she said, citing local job listings she took note of recently. “But I didn’t have time to apply because I’m (expecting), so I figured I would take a year off, and then start slowly doing part-time work, maybe an internship, and then work my way into a full-time position.”
Though balancing two fields of study is no easy chore, it is slight work when compared to the task of caring for three young children. She said proper scheduling has been a fundamental element to her family’s success.
“Not necessarily scheduling the kids, but scheduling the school work around them. There’s a lot of lists,” she said. “I had to look at when I could drop the kids off, when I could pick them up, but I also had to look at which classes fit into my degree as well, so there was a lot of stuff to look at.”
Her oldest child, 9-year-old Cara, does well in school and “understands that mommy has to (study) now, but she knows on the weekend there’s always time for us to do stuff together," Davidson-Shea said.
Reuben, the middle child, is five. Her youngest, Gabriel, will turn two in June.
Davidson-Shea began her college career at CNM in 2012, when Reuben was 1, she said. Her family had just been stationed locally after being stationed in Turkey.
She said she came close to getting her degree from the Community College of the Air Force, but never finished it.
“I applied to UNM but I didn’t have all of my records, so my husband told me ‘just go to CNM, get your associate’s, and then you can hop right over,’” she said. “So I did that.”
Since that time in 2012, Davidson-Shea said she has attended college every semester except for the summer of 2014, when she gave birth to Gabriel. Her husband is still active in the military.
This accomplishment required hard work, discipline and, most of all, self-sacrifice, she said.
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“For me it was good because I wasn’t a very good student in high school. I would put off a lot of work, but now I’m a lot more focused,” she said. “I think the Air Force had a lot to do with that, with the discipline, how I can stay focused on the task and get everything done on time.”
Davidson-Shea said she is glad to have earned her bachelor’s degree and plans to work toward a master’s in the future.
“It was weird this semester not signing up for classes, because it’s like ‘You can sign up now,’ but I don’t have to, I have nothing left,” she said. “It will be nice to get some time off.”
Johnny Vizcaino is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. Contact him at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thedailyjohnnyv.
