Graduate Spotlight: Randi McDonald
Randi McDonald spent the last decade as a stay-at-home mom. As her kids got older and more independent, she decided she wanted to reenter the workforce.
She had attended classes at Hawkeye before and was familiar with the campus. Its location close to home and a scholarship that covered tuition helped make her decision easy. Randi enrolled in the Medical Office Specialist program, where she soon discovered most of her classmates were also nontraditional students.
"A lot of us kind of are on the same wavelength," she said. "We have families at home. We have outside responsibilities other than being a student."
Though balancing school and life could be difficult at times, Randi was also able to get involved with activities on campus that she truly enjoyed, like choir.
"Who would have thought I'd have been in a choir and having that experience?" she said. "I think everybody should join something."
After graduation, Randi plans to work at VGM.
"I had these plans before I started, but I'm going to fulfill them now," she said. "Because of Hawkeye, I have been able to confidently return to the workforce."