Marcy Beller is restoring and revising her career and her higher education.
“When I went back to school five years ago, I wasn’t at the college level,” she said. “I started to get my associate degree. Then, I thought, ‘Well, I’m here. I might as well get my bachelor’s degree.’ Then, I said, ‘Why not go all the way?'”
Beller is enrolled in the online Master of Business Administration with a General Business Concentration program at Eastern Washington University. She is on track to graduate in June 2020.
While earning a bachelor’s degree in business management with a focus in accounting from Clark College, Beller completed an internship at a fledgling nonprofit called Restored and Revised in Vancouver, Washington.
“I helped with the legal aspects and portfolio and talked with the board of directors — all of it,” she said. “It was great. I wrote their entire program, so they wanted to keep me on. They now consider me their operations manager and have offered me a permanent position.”
Beller also got married a year ago to her now husband, Scott, and she has two children — Ian (18) and Austin (13). She initially returned to college to lay the groundwork for a career in human resources.
“I love people and the idea of helping people work better with an organization,” she said. “They are an organization’s most valuable asset. The idea of teaching is also appealing to me. I tried not to narrow it too much.”
Renewed Enthusiasm
Although Beller was born in Portland and graduated from high school in Florida, she has spent most of her adult life in Vancouver. She was a single mom when she enrolled at Clark College. Because she did some online courses as an undergrad, the transition to a fully online graduate program was smooth.
“I had to do some form of online classes because I work and have kids,” she said. “It’s been extremely manageable. That’s a lot of what attracted me to Eastern Washington University. The flexibility of the online format is huge.
“Ian is graduating from high school the same time I am graduating from the master’s degree program. They were getting older, which gave me an opportunity to be an adult learner. My youngest is autistic, so the flexibility of the schedule helps a lot.”
Beller also liked the accelerated time to completion, affordable tuition and program accreditation that EWU offers. She is taking multiple courses per quarter.
“I looked around at some other schools that offer an online MBA,” she said. “They were double the cost. Financially, Eastern Washington fit all of my criteria. It also wasn’t an additional two years of college. I could do it and knock it out.”
So far, BADM 508: Essentials of Operations Management is Beller’s favorite course in the curriculum. Because she did some online courses as an undergrad, the transition to a fully online format was smooth.
“I liked the structure of that course,” she said. “I hadn’t been introduced to project management a lot. The ideas around project management, in general, appeal to my personality.”
The applicability of the knowledge Beller has gained in the program is valuable as she learns the nuances of the nonprofit realm.
“I have absolutely used every single bit of it,” she said. “It’s translated nicely from my undergrad to my graduate studies. Some of my favorite parts about writing the program for Restored and Revised was taking its mission and vision and incorporating it through all of its operations. These classes have helped me understand how to do that.”
Revitalized Student
Beller will be the first person in her immediate family to earn a master’s degree. She isn’t sure if she can walk in the commencement ceremony because her son is graduating from high school around the same time.
“Being there for him is my first priority,” she said. “I did not walk when I got my associate degree, but I did when I finished my bachelor’s. It was awesome. My family and friends are excited.”
Once Beller graduates, she will focus on her career and determine which direction to take. For now, she is happy to have a solid job, education and family.
“I worked for a local nonprofit for a couple of years as an office manager before I did the internship,” she said. “The nonprofit sector is not necessarily where I ultimately want to end up, but it’s where I have been led in my life.”
Beller believes that the MBA will help create some opportunities for her down the road.
“EWU is a good school with good accreditation,” she said. “I love it. The MBA offers me the open ability to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”
Although Beller had no inkling five years ago that she would earn a master’s degree, she now knows that the online MBA program is manageable. So much so that she helped a friend decide to go back to school and encouraged her to enroll at EWU.
“She has worked for the county for 20 years and wanted to move up,” she said. “It’s okay to invest in ourselves. You have to keep your end goal in mind, but I believe anybody can do anything.”
Learn more about the EWU online MBA program.
