Graduate Hailey Olson takes unusual path to degree
by Prufer
Hailey Olson is not your traditional, four-year college-degree seeking student. It has taken her 19 years to earn a bachelor’s degree, but she’s raised a family along the way, gathered various accolades, two more degrees (one she’s still working on) and should graduate magna cum laude at Coastal Carolina University's winter commencement ceremony on Dec. 11.
She is one of 583 candidates eligible to march in the ceremony. As a distance-learning student, she has been on CCU’s campus only four times; this December graduation will be her fifth visit, and it’s one she wouldn’t miss for the world.
The Florida native started out with an ambitious plan to finish high school a year early to get a jumpstart on college and her career goals. But an unplanned pregnancy derailed those plans for 14 years as she concentrated on her growing family.
Two children later, Olson’s marriage ended, and she realized she was in a desperate situation. “The most humbling experience of all was when I had to apply for Medicaid and food stamps,” she recalls. She knew that more education was her answer out of a downward spiral. She enrolled in a nearby technical college and completed an associate degree in health information management.
“As soon as I graduated, I wanted to continue my education with a bachelor’s degree, and found that Coastal offered an online health administration degree program,” she says. “The reason I chose health administration was because I believed that I could make a difference in the evolving health care industry, while at the same time improve patient care.
“I chose CCU because after researching its program, I was confident it would prepare me for influential leadership positions within the health care field.”
Olson says her experience at CCU has been marked by “strong connection to faculty members” such as lecturer Kristi Forbus, her academic adviser, who have supported and encouraged her, as have the Writing Center, the Office and Financial Aid, and the Women in Philanthropy and Leadership (WIPL) organization, which awarded her as the first recipient of the organization’s endowed scholarship.
Along the way, while working full time and raising her sons, Olson racked up plenty of accomplishments. In addition to the WIPL scholarship, she was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa because of her 3.9 GPA, she was nominated for the University Distinguished Student Award, she received the award for Outstanding Student Achievement in Health Administration, “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges,” and she became a public speaker for WIPL (at an earlier conference) and for the Office of Philanthropy.
“There is something very special about Coastal’s unique dynamic, and I will be forever grateful for my positive experience here,” says Olson.
“When I gave my speech at the Donor's Recognition Reception, I shared how I wanted to get my MBA at CCU. However, since there was not a fully online program, I had planned to get my MBA at North Greenville University. After my speech, Provost Ralph Byington approached me and said he would do what it took to keep me at CCU as an online MBA student.”
In addition to finishing three final undergraduate courses, Olson will also receive her MBA in December 2016, which was made possible through collaboration with Byington, Business Dean Barbara Ritter and Robert Reed, student services program coordinator in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration.
Recently, she was granted a graduate assistantship through the business college and will be assisting faculty members Ken Small, Frances Richmond and Ellen Hayward. The stipend will cover graduate tuition for the semester, which means if she keeps the assistantship for one more semester, then all of her three degrees will have been 100 percent financed through grants, scholarships and the assistantship.
“I feel like I’ve won the lottery!” says Olson.
She graduated with an associate degree in health information management and became a registered health information technician in 2013. In December 2016, she hopes to become CCU’s first online MBA graduate. If she succeeds in that endeavor, she will have earned three degrees in four years.
In case you think Olson is resting on the laurels of her upcoming graduation, think again. She has pinpointed her long-term career goal, which is to specialize in operations and become COO of a large health care organization. She has already taken a big step in that direction.
After two years of submitting 19 applications to Greenville Heath System, the largest health care organization in the region, she was hired as a consultant to teach the new electronic medical records software to employees. She is also working on establishing a Greenville chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) since there is not one in Greenville.
Olson’s sons are on their way to achieving their own goals also: Eighteen-year-old Andrew graduated high school last year and is taking a year off to decide on a major. He works full time at an auto parts store.
Alex is 16, loves his biomed course at Wren High School and wants to be a physician. He volunteered at a hospital this past summer, is involved with a junior leadership program at the local Chamber of Commerce and plans to apply to CCU’s Honors College in a few months. Both boys will be in the audience come Dec. 11 with their grandparents Ray and Betty Violin, from Yuma, Ariz., to watch their mom pick up her long-anticipated degree.
“I want everyone to know how blessed I have been by CCU’s generosity,” says this focused, high-achieving woman. “I am truly appreciative for the opportunities that I have been given and am a Chanticleer for LIFE! My life has been completely transformed as a result of my positive experience at CCU, and I will be forever grateful!”
