Two UC Graduates March Together as They Have Again and Again

Andrea Fuerst and Maribeth Pennekamp will be marching together at the University of Cincinnati Commencement Ceremony on Dec. 8, and at first, they’ll be the only two graduates to recognize each other’s faces among the fellow graduates in their master’s degree program. It will be a day to match names with faces as they actually come face-to-face with their cohort of distance learners over the past two years. But the two who already recognize each other share a very unique history.

First, the two women marched at the same high school graduation from New Miami High School. These two friends both earned their bachelor’s degree in communication education in 1991 from Miami University in Ohio. They both live about five minutes apart in Ross, Ohio. The 38-year-old women were born within a day of each other – Maribeth’s around 10 hours older. Both play piano. Both like to sing. Both filled the woodwind section of their high school band – Andrea played clarinet and Maribeth played the flute.

They both work in the education profession and teach English. Andrea is an English and career-based intervention instructor at Options Academy-Wokini in the Lakota School District. Maribeth teaches at New Miami Junior/Senior High School. Their families share a tradition in the teaching profession. In fact, Andrea’s mother and Maribeth’s mother and father taught together in the New Miami School District.

And now, both are marching at the University of Cincinnati All-University Commencement, as they achieve their master’s degree in educational leadership from the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services. But when they started out in the program that offered the option of earning their master’s degree through distance learning, neither knew that the other had enrolled in the same program.

“When I first looked at the list of other students, I saw Maribeth Pennekamp and thought, ‘Well, that’s striking,’” Andrea says.

“I scrolled down the list of names to see who was in my cohort and thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, there can’t be another Andrea Fuerst!’” says Maribeth.

The two friends who did everything together in high school were now busy with their full-time careers and full-time family duties, so they weren’t in touch as often. Both felt distance-learning would be an ideal way to advance their education and their career around their hectic schedules. It was the first distance-learning experience for both of them, although Andrea is currently providing online instruction at her school.

Maribeth, now married with a son and daughter who are both young athletes, says she was hauling her laptop to tournaments in Springfield, Rochester and Indianapolis, to keep up with her coursework and still support her daughter’s basketball team. “I just had to make sure I had a hotel with wireless Internet. I couldn’t have been there for my daughter without the distance learning. It made it easier to continue my life.”

She says distance learning holds its challenges, too. Students need to prioritize and be self-disciplined, she says. “I had friends and other mothers ask me, ‘When will you be free from your homework?’ I finished right in the middle of my son’s football season and they talked about going to the spa and getting pedicures to celebrate, but since we’re all working moms, none of us could match schedules,” she laughs. “Anyway, it’s the thought that counts.”

Andrea says she missed the face-to-face contact with instructors and fellow students that she would have experienced in a traditional classroom.

That’s also why she’s looking forward to that face-to-face contact at graduation. But, the wife and mother of an eight-year-old daughter says that distance-learning was ideal for doing her own work on her own time, around her hectic work and family schedule.

Both women became interested in educational leadership because both teachers are pondering careers beyond their own classroom. The distance-learning program provides research, field experience and career development for professionals who hold or are interested in holding jobs in educational leadership, such as principals and other administrators.

“It just seemed like a natural step from the classroom,” says Andrea. She adds that her UC experience has now helped her view the field of education from two different perspectives, as a teacher and an administrator. “Now, I can see why some decisions are made that I may not have understood before I entered this program.”

“I wanted to find something that would take me to the next level. Maybe I can make a bigger impact with the students as a principal or administrator. Now, that’s something I have the option of pursuing,” Maribeth says.

And just like in high school, the two long-time friends became a support system for each other after stumbling across each other in yet another academic pursuit. “Honestly, I didn’t call any of my other cohort members, but you can’t beat being able to call someone for help who’s just five minutes down the road,” Andrea says.

Come graduation, both women are looking forward to closing that distance between their fellow learners. “I’m a face-to-face person, so I want to meet them,” Maribeth says. “I’m also looking forward to my family and children sharing this experience with me. It was a goal that I set and a goal that I accomplished that was important to me.”

“Putting the faces to the names is going to be fun, and, of course, marching in a third graduation with my best friend is pretty cool, too,” says Andrea.

Educational Leadership Master’s Degree Distance Learning Program

UC’s Distance Learning Programs

UC Reports Significant Increase in Distance Learners

UC Commencement Web Site

Other Commencement News