{"id":45059,"date":"2017-12-13T13:34:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T13:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=45059"},"modified":"2017-12-13T13:34:06","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T13:34:06","slug":"lumina-focus-marcia-mccallum-finally-its-her-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/12\/13\/lumina-focus-marcia-mccallum-finally-its-her-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumina Focus: Marcia McCallum | Finally, it’s her turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lumina Focus: Finally, it’s her turn<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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FINALLY, IT\u2019S HER TURN<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Marcia McCallum graduated from high<\/span>\u00a0school in 1983. She decided to continue her education 29 years later. A lot of life happened in between.<\/span><\/p>\n

She gave birth to and raised four children, and she welcomed two grandchildren. Her family moved from Texas to Nebraska and then returned to Texas. She separated from her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

She also waited tables to help with the family finances, drove kids to soccer practice and swim meets, opened her home to gatherings of her children and their friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was your typical soccer mom,\u201d she said recently. \u201cBut I kind of had a feeling there was something out there, waiting for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2012, she found that something: higher education.\u00a0<\/span>After sending her second-oldest child off to college, Marcia,<\/span>\u00a0then 48, decided to enroll at Austin Community College.<\/span><\/p>\n

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She vividly remembers one of her first experiences at the<\/span>\u00a0college as she waited to pick up her student identification<\/span>\u00a0card. \u201cWhen I went to get my ID for the first time, the boy<\/span>\u00a0who was behind me in line \u2014 he was probably 19 \u2014 said,<\/span>\u00a0\u2018Ma\u2019am, if your child isn\u2019t here, can I go ahead of you in line?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t believe what it was like on the very first day of class,\u201d she said. \u201cThey (other students) think I\u2019m the\u00a0<\/span>professor. When I sit down with them, they are surprised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McCallum started slowly, taking an elementary algebra course during a six-week summer session. She said she was surprised to realize how much math she had forgotten. Her oldest daughter, Ashton, helped, making flash cards to refresh McCallum\u2019s memory of key concepts. Her other children \u2014 daughters Jordan and Megan and son Jon \u2014 were \u201cvery supportive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were maybe a little skeptical, but once I got into the second and third semesters, they were my biggest cheerleaders,\u201d said McCallum, now 52 and the grandmother of four.<\/span><\/p>\n

She continued to work full-time during her first year,\u00a0<\/span>ratcheting up her academic load from one course, to two and<\/span>\u00a0then, by her fourth semester, to full time. Her schedule was daunting. In addition to being a full-time student, she worked each Friday, Saturday and Sunday as a waitress, with double shifts on Saturdays and Sundays. She did that for two semesters before cutting back to just one double shift, on Sundays.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThings were a little tight \u2026 yes,\u201d she recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCallum initially thought she wanted to become a nurse,<\/span>\u00a0so she started with courses in anatomy and physiology. That\u2019s when she began to believe in herself as a student.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought school was for me, and now I love it,\u201d she said. \u201cI think the change came when I got that first 90 on a test in introductory anatomy and physiology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After a first experience doing work in a laboratory,\u00a0<\/span>McCallum decided to switch her major to biotechnology.<\/span>\u00a0She started to excel as a student.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI decided I don\u2019t agree with the slogan \u2018C\u2019s get degrees,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI believe you need to get your A game up there and get some A\u2019s. I am very competitive, but I am really competitive with myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As she worked toward completing her associate degree in applied science and biotechnology, which she finished in August 2016, McCallum took on another project: helping to set up Austin Community College\u2019s new Bioscience Incubator lab in a converted shopping mall building on the college\u2019s Highland campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lab, which opened in February 2017, affords students \u201cgraduate-level research, which is unique for\u00a0<\/span>a two-year college,\u201d said Tyler Drake, director of the<\/span>\u00a0Bioscience<\/span>\u00a0Incubator. Space is also rented out to start-ups and other local firms that can\u2019t afford their own labs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nancy Lyon, the lab coordinator, said her team had already selected an intern before meeting McCallum, but decided to add a second.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was her personality and enthusiasm,\u201d said Lyon,\u00a0<\/span>who previously taught for 16 years at the nearby University<\/span>\u00a0of Texas campus. \u201cWhat you see is what you get (with Marcia), and what you get is really good.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe hired a student, and she makes us look good,\u201d Lyon said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marcia McCallum with her son Jon, who\u2019s been a strong advocate for his mother\u2019s ongoing education. When she talked of working full time rather than finishing her second degree, Jon and his siblings nixed that idea. They got on the computer with her and signed her up for the remaining courses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

McCallum is now working toward an additional associate degree, in general science. She takes three courses online through Austin Community College so she \u201ccan call up courses at 4 in the morning, if I need to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She also works in the bioscience lab and does contract work for 20 or more hours per week with a start-up biotechnology company located near the Highland campus. She continues to work as a waitress, although for fewer hours than in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a grueling schedule, and she admits she had second thoughts about continuing after obtaining her first associate degree.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI almost took a break after I got that degree, but my son (Jon) said: \u2018No, don\u2019t stop.\u2019 He thought I\u2019d get a job and get into the workforce and not have the same commitment,\u201d McCallum said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But now that the end is in sight for her career at Austin<\/span>\u00a0Community College, she\u2019s thinking of higher goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to apply to college and maybe get a bachelor\u2019s degree,\u201d she said. \u201cI would love to go to UT. We have a family legacy there.\u201d Her grandfather was a professor at the University of Texas, and son Jon has two degrees from the university.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stories like McCallum\u2019s are inspiring \u2014 to the leaders at her college and to her family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese students, I don\u2019t know how they make it,\u201d said Richard Rhodes, Austin Community College\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cIt\u2019s sheer tenacity and grit. They really have to want it to overcome unimaginable barriers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Austin Community College President Richard Rhodes has overseen countless innovations at his institution, including the college\u2019s ongoing effort to repurpose an abandoned shopping mall. Still, Rhodes is quick to credit ACC students themselves as the architects of their own success, praising their \u201csheer tenacity and grit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jon McCallum, Marcia\u2019s son, said that \u201cseeing my mom go<\/span>\u00a0through school after having raised four kids and essentially<\/span>\u00a0starting over is a kind of testament to how hard work and<\/span>\u00a0persistence can really pay off. From what I can tell and I can see, she\u2019s a success, no matter how long it took.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marcia begins to choke up when she thinks of what she\u2019s been through.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been \u2026 well, I can\u2019t even put it into words,\u201d she said,<\/span>\u00a0as tears welled up in her eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s a feeling that gets stuck right here,\u201d McCallum said, pointing to her heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lumina Focus: Finally, it’s her turn   FINALLY, IT\u2019S HER TURN AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Marcia McCallum graduated from high\u00a0school in 1983. She decided to continue her education 29 years later. A lot of life happened … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3556,"featured_media":45060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1311,512,1790,1791],"class_list":["post-45059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc-in-the-news","tag-bioscience-incubator","tag-biotechnology","tag-lumina-focus","tag-marcia-mccallum"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}