News

Crissy Murphy’s path to walk across the stage at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, May 14, was anything but traditional. To understand the twists and turns on her journey, you need to go back to 2001 when she was a junior and dropped out of high school.

“My junior year is a huge part of my story,” Murphy said. “I never liked going to school or being in class. I wanted to get to work and be on my own so badly, so I did. I never would have said that 20 years later I would come back to school as a student shining so bright. I can’t believe it at times.”

By November of 2002, Murphy gave birth to her first child. Natalie’s arrival brought joy and a new responsibility she had never experienced before – taking care of another person. By the age of 25, she was pregnant with her second child and working full-time doing residential flat work concrete construction as well as a Sunday shift manager at Taco Johns to provide for her family. Pregnancy made the physical demands of construction work unsafe and she had to figure out what she could do next.

“I knew two children in daycare would take all my paycheck and I had bills to pay, too,” said Murphy. “I began to wonder about taking CNA classes and working over nights to avoid the dreaded child care bill. Then I started to think even crazier, what if I opened an in-home childcare? I have been successfully operating a licensed in-home program for over 16 years.”

Fast forward to September 2020 when Murphy’s journey took another turn. In the process of getting divorced, her great niece was placed in her care at 49 days old and her life changed for the better. With all the uncertainties of life with an infant, she impulsively filled out a postcard from the TEACH Early Childhood Nebraska scholarship program and dropped it in the mail. TEACH provides scholarships to help early childcare and education professionals complete coursework at a local college toward a degree in Early Childhood Education at little or no cost. A week later she heard from Julie Warford at TEACH and enrolled at Southeast Community College in the Early Childhood Education program.

“I guess you could say with all the life changes that happened so quickly, applying to SCC shifted my mindset into the idea to keep growing,” Murphy said. “School has kept me incredibly busy. I never knew I could be such a dedicated, hard-working student. I never had a plan to begin college at 38, but I did it and I’m so glad I did.”

When Murphy graduated with her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education, she became the first member of her family to graduate from college and only the second of her four siblings to have a GED. Because of her education at SCC, she is going to change the focus of her daycare to working primarily with 3-5 year-olds after having the mixed age vibe since the beginning. It’s a challenge she is up to.

“I knew from a young age that if I wanted to provide for my family one day it was going to take commitment, dedication, hard work and your time,” Murphy said. “I have learned so much during my time at SCC, not just from the textbooks but things about myself. I’m so thrilled to continue with the path I’m on. I have a whole new tool kit for the adventure – a degree! New goals, new ambition, new hope!”

Jennifer Snyder
Communications Specialist
402-323-3393
jsnyder@southeast.edu