Throughout her time at Reading High School, Nicole Reeser-Mazur never really thought much about continuing her education after graduation.
But during her senior year, something happened to change that.
Reeser-Mazur gave birth to her first child. The teen mom suddenly had a reason to strive for a better future.
“I wasn’t even really sure I wanted to go to college,” she explained. “But because of my child, I wanted to do something more.”
So when she finished up at Reading High in 1994, Reeser-Mazur headed off to Reading Area Community College. There, she earned an associates degree in early childhood and elementary education.
Reeser-Mazur took a bit of break from education after RACC. While she was a student there she gave birth to her second child — proudly explaining it didn’t cause her to miss a single class.
“I had the baby over the weekend and went to class on Monday,” she said.
After graduating from RACC, Reeser-Mazur took some time to get her life back together, focusing on working and raising her children. Her relationship with her children’s father didn’t work out, and for a time she found herself without a stable place to live.
At one point, she was considering moving into a homeless shelter, but was instead able to move into the home of her best friend’s parents.
Eventually, things started to settle down for Reeser-Mazur and she decided to continue her educational journey.
She enrolled at Alvernia University — which accepted all of her credits from RACC — to pursue a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
That pursuit was anything but easy. She was raising two young children, and worked in child care to pay for school and support her family.
“Oh my, I had long days,” she said. “Really long days.”
Reeser-Mazur said she would start work at a day care center at 6:30 a.m., and after finishing up at 6 p.m. she would take evening classes at Alvernia. The only thing that kept her going, she said, was thinking about her children.
“Honestly, having my (children) motivated me to be better,” she said. “When you become a mother, something changes. You want to do better.”
Reeser-Mazur earned her degree from Alvernia and began teaching in the Reading School District. She spent four years there before moving to the Berks County Intermediate Unit, where she worked as a teacher and administrator in early childhood education for nearly 18 years.
During that time, Reeser-Mazur also started teaching college courses at RACC and Harcum College in Bryn Mawr.
“Teaching at RACC, some of the courses I had attended as a student I got to teach,” she said. “And I met some students who were just like me. I was able to share my story and, hopefully, inspire them.”
Reeser-Mazur also went back to school as a student, earning a master’s degree in educational sciences at Albright College and her principal’s certificate from Alvernia. With all that under her belt, she decided it was time to seek out something she had dreamed about since first starting college — earning her doctorate.
“It was a personal and professional goal for me,” she said. “I wanted to grow myself. Working in education motivated me to learn, to keep learning. I’m a lifelong learner.”
Of course, like most things in her life, Reeser-Mazur’s pursuit of her doctorate wasn’t straightforward. That’s because on July 17, shortly before she was set to finish, she suffered a brain aneurism.
“It’s a life-altering event,” Reeser-Mazur said. “But I’m just glad to be alive. The survival rate is low.”
The aneurism has left Reeser-Mazur with short-term memory loss and some difficulty in processing memories, along with other challenges. But she hasn’t let that stop her pursuit of her goals.
Even though she is still in recovery — she had her most recent surgery in late April — she has returned to her current job at the Wilson School District full time. And she picked up right where she left off with her doctorate — with a lot of support and motivation provided by her Alvernia professors.
“I’ve always been a person that has perseverance,” she said.
Because of that perseverance, Reeser-Mazur joined 604 other Alvernia students on May 11 at Santander Arena at the university’s commencement ceremony. There, she was officially bestowed the title of doctor of philosophy in leadership.
“I never would have guessed, as a teen mom, that I would ever be in this position,” Reeser-Mazur said a few days before the graduation ceremony. “It took a lot of resilience, the Holy Spirit, passion, dedication and drive.”
Reeser-Mazur said that despite how difficult the obstacles she faced made her journey, she’s glad to have faced them.
“To me, it was all character building and helped me grow into the person I am today,” she said. “And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
The 49-year-old Leesport woman, who is now a grandmother of six, said her story is an example that anything is possible with hard work and a bit of grit.
“If I was talking to other teen moms, or people facing challenges, I would tell them they can do whatever they put their mind to,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but if you keep pushing through every challenge will eventually pass.. Keep forging forward.”
Source: Berkshire mont