The road to a degree in higher ed is often compared to a journey; a path marked with challenges, climbs, plateaus, and a rush of adrenaline that comes with reaching the summit. Capella University student Samantha Mangum understands that experience perfectly. She has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kosciuszko, the tallest mountains in Africa and Australia respectively, and hopes to conquer the highest peaks on the remaining continents shortly.
In early 2017, Mangum, who is in the Master’s in Mental Health Counseling program at Capella, will attempt an ascent of Mount Aconcagua, just shy of 23,000 feet, in Argentina. It’s her second try at tackling the mountain (her first effort was ended by bad weather just steps from the summit), and she has only grown more determined to succeed as time has passed. This time, her trek will raise money to help integrate people with mental illness back into their communities.
It Started with a Crash
In 2002, it seemed unlikely that Mangum would ever be able be able to walk across a room—let alone climb a mountain. The Texas native was injured in a car accident and had to undergo surgery to repair a shattered hip and pelvis. During recovery, she also struggled with PTSD, depression, and survivor’s guilt (a friend riding in the same vehicle had died in the crash). “I realized that some people live in dark places,” Mangum says. “They have to struggle with mental challenges every single day.”
Rehabilitation eventually gave Mangum the chance to walk again, and in 2008, she traveled to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and spent a week working in an orphanage in an effort to give something back to the country she was visiting. Over time, an idea grew: Was there a way she could use her climbs to fund charitable causes she supported?
Mangum eventually moved to Colorado and currently works as a recovery care coordinator with Boulder Mental Health Partners. Her South American climb in January will support some of its clients. “The effort connects my vocational goals and my avocation,” Mangum says of her project. “All the funds I raise go directly to wellness classes for clients —yoga, hiking, support groups—and educating the community about mental health.” She has set a goal of raising more than $50,000 for her Rise Above Stigma campaign—and, she notes, every dollar raised will go to support the effort to end the stigma of mental illness.
Higher Aspirations, Higher Education
When she’s not working or training for her trek in the foothills around Boulder, Mangum is pursuing her master’s degree, accessing the Capella courseroom from wherever she happens to be at the moment (though, she notes, it’s not always possible to get a Wi-Fi connection at base-camp level!). “I’m a sponge. I love learning. And from the beginning, I was impressed with my professors. I knew I was exactly where I needed to be.”
Mangum eventually hopes to climb all Seven Summits, as the tallest peaks on each continent are collectively known. But even if she doesn’t reach the top of every one, she knows that—as with her education—she’ll learn something from the journey. Every step forward is, in some way, a miracle—a second chance after the car accident she suffered. “It’s a little strange,” Magnum says. “I went through something that was truly terrible, but it ended up being one of the best things that could happen to me because it transformed my life.
“Every day I have the opportunity to make the world a little better.”
Learn more about Capella’s MS in Mental Health Counseling program.
See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at Capella Results.
