Alumni Success
If you think you don't have the time to complete your degree, talk to this mother of seven.
 MHR graduate Debbie Buchholz and husband Allen with their family. From left to right, Hannah, age 11; Isaac, age 9; Noah, age 9; Abigail, age 10; Jacob, age 11; Elijah, age 18, holding Levi, age 2. |
Rev. Debbie Buchholz had despaired of finding a way to complete her degree. The wife, pastor, and mother of seven had been forced to delay college when as a young woman she helped raise her three sisters after their mother's death. Then marriage and the birth of three children postponed her completion again. But in May 1999, Buchholz walked across the platform at Commencement, and took her diploma proudly. As she did, a lifetime of desire and struggle culminated in her children and husband's cheering.
In early 1998, Buchholz contacted the Division of Innovative Adult Education. She had just moved to Kansas from Council Bluffs, Iowa. She wanted to earn a bachelor's degree so that she could later pursue a master's degree in counseling and eventually doctoral work in child psychology. As a hearing impaired person (hard of hearing) she had learned that school was just one more challenge to be conquered.
"Both my parents were deaf and I inherited hearing loss from my father," she said. "My father didn't expose us to sound so when I went to Kindergarten, I had a lot of catching up to do. I didn't learn English until then because American Sign Language is my first language."
In fact, Buchholz still has the first report card from kindergarten that shows she was marked down for behavior.
"In the deaf community we tap each other to get one's attention," she said. "I got in trouble literally every day for tapping someone. It was not a good beginning to my educational career."
Despite the difficult start, Buchholz never gave up, and continues to be a life-long learner who works on learning a new vocabulary word each day.
After Buchholz and her husband Allen, who runs his own insurance agency, had their third child they thought their family was complete. Seven years ago however, they saw a 20/20 report on Romanian orphans. Buchholz says she could not eat or sleep after seeing the program.
"My husband wanted to send money, but I knew God was saying that I wasn't done with three [children]," she said. In the next seven years they would adopt four children, each with medical or behavioral problems, and three of whom were from foreign countries.
Regarding the balance of family, job and school Buchholz has some definite thoughts.
"I'm an 'act-on' person," she said. "I just do it. I really struggle when people say that they don't have time to earn a degree. Because when people pray and know this is what they should do, God helps them find a way. If you seek His will you can do anything."
It was not possible for her to earn her degree the traditional way however.
"If not for a non-traditional, accelerated program I could not have done it," she said. "The MHR program's format allowed me to go to school just one night a week, when my husband could watch the children. If not for that, I still wouldn't have the degree."
Buchholz continues to excel at getting things done. In addition to ministry work in the deaf community, she is on a Bible translation team, translating the scriptures from original Hebrew and Greek into American Sign on video. She plans to apply for the master of counseling program at MidAmerica, and hopes to become a professional counselor.
