{"id":4667,"date":"2016-06-28T11:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=4667"},"modified":"2016-07-15T10:31:14","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T15:31:14","slug":"phd-education-graduate-conquers-obstacles-on-path-to-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/phd-education-graduate-conquers-obstacles-on-path-to-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"A PhD in Education Graduate Overcomes Obstacles on the Path to Her Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"courtney_bergman\"
Courtney Bergman and her husband<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When her husband suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident a few years ago, Courtney Bergman realized the future of her family was completely on her shoulders. What\u2019s more, supporting two adults and three children on her meager salary as an elementary-school teacher would be very challenging.<\/p>\n

Hoping to boost her marketability for more skilled, higher-paying jobs, Bergman decided to pursue a master\u2019s degree in curriculum development and instruction. And because she lived in a small town in northeast Utah, online learning seemed like the best option. What\u2019s more, with her work and family circumstances, she needed flexibility. \u201cWhen you\u2019re essentially a single mom taking care of three girls and a disabled adult, sometimes you have to be able to go to school at two in the morning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But midway through obtaining her master\u2019s degree at another institution, Bergman wondered if it would be enough to set her apart in the field of education. \u201cLots of people had master\u2019s degrees,\u201d she says. \u201cPhDs were rarer, and I liked the idea of having that kind of accomplishment on my resume.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An Appetite for Research<\/h4>\n

The school where Bergman got her master\u2019s didn\u2019t offer PhDs in her area of specialty, so she switched to the PhD in Curriculum and Instruction<\/a> program at Capella University. It wasn\u2019t easy juggling studies with everything else, but in some ways learning was a good distraction from everyday challenges. \u201cI found I felt so much better about myself when I was learning something,\u201d Bergman says.<\/p>\n

She also found she loved research. \u201cI\u2019m not great with numbers, but I liked the idea of looking at a problem and coming up with a statistics-supported solution,\u201d she says. The things she learned as part of her courses and research were directly applicable to her daily work as a teacher. \u201cRight from the beginning, I could use this skill or that skill to deal with a situation with an administrator or a challenge in the classroom,\u201d she says. \u201cI gained real-life skills that I could use right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Motivation and Support<\/h4>\n

Bergman, who completed her dissertation last fall and received her degree in the spring, admits there were times when she wanted to quit. But professors like Deborah Gilbert, EdD<\/a>, were there along the way to help her with questions and challenges. \u201cDr. Gilbert understood when it was frustrating and just let me blow off steam once in a while,\u201d Bergman says.<\/p>\n

She also tapped Capella\u2019s Writing Center to assist her, and the librarians who oversee Capella\u2019s research resources were also very helpful. \u201cBless their hearts,\u201d she says, \u201cthey helped me a ton. Capella really does have some amazing online resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, though, it was Bergman\u2019s own motivation that got her through the PhD process\u2014along with an occasional boost from her family. \u201cI\u2019m not a quitter. Once I get started with something, I see it through,\u201d she says. \u201cBut at one point, when I was thinking of dropping out of the program, my 17-year-old daughter said to me, \u2018Mom, we\u2019ve seen you through too much for you to quit right now,\u2019\u201d Bergman says. \u201cI don\u2019t think she knows how much that meant, but it really motivated me to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learn more about Capella\u2019s <\/em>doctoral degrees in education<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/h6>\n
See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at <\/em>Capella Results<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m not a quitter. Once I get started with something, I see it through.\u201d No obstacle was too much for Courtney Bergman- even if it meant completing coursework at 2am. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":4712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,151],"tags":[67,7,249],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4667"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4719,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667\/revisions\/4719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}