oncampus
All in the Family :: by Amy Armstrong
C
ollege can be a challenging time for some—the all-nighters, the massive amounts of homework and, of course, your mom telling embarrassing stories about your childhood to your classmates.
OK, so maybe the last one isn’t your typical college experience but it is what Lacey Allaway ’10 ’14 and her mom, Lisa Jeffcoat ’14, went through while students at Schreiner. Allaway, who earned her licensed vocational nursing degree in 2010 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing this year, said it was always interesting and, at the end of the day, quite nice attending school with her mom. “We would meet up in the library with our snacks and Starbucks,” she said. Allaway, a mom to a 5-yearold son, said her entire family has been a huge help to her
while obtaining her degrees. Jeffcoat, who graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting degree, raised Allaway as a single mother and knows a thing or two about needing support. “I always felt incomplete without my degree but it was hard to find time as a single mom to take classes,” Jeffcoat said. “It helped us being here together because we had a support system in place.” Jeffcoat said it also helped to heal some wounds they inflicted on each other during some trying times. “We get along better now than ever, we were both up late at night studying, she would read my paper and I would read hers,” she said. “God has really blessed us because this helped heal us.” Allaway, who has worked at Peterson Regional Medical Center for seven years, said her mom serves as an inspiration.
“My mom is a very hard worker; she is studious and she powers through and makes time for everything,” Allaway said. “We have sacrificed a lot to do this. We have given up weekends and holidays and pulled a lot of all-nighters.” And, yes, her mom did tell childhood stories to their classmates. “They would ask me about different stories and I would think, ‘How did they know that? Oh, yeah, my mom.’” Jeffcoat said that May graduation was a bittersweet time for her. “I felt like a mom to the other students as well, and I’ve made a lot of good friends,” she said. Jeffcoat, who is taking her certified public accountant exam this summer, said nursing is the perfect field for her daughter. “Lacey really wants to help people and she has always been that way,” Jeffcoat said. “She inspires me. She is exactly who I wanted her to be.”
www.schreiner.edu Summer 2014 9