Higher education, and the UNM Anderson School of Management, are a family tradition for Nicole Capehart. As a child she often visited UNM with her mother, who had return to college to finish her accounting degree.

“I vividly remember walking on campus with her to find her classes before the start of each semester, going to the bookstore to buy her books, and once, even sitting in the back of the room during a meeting with her professor. I was fascinated and awed by the campus, and I always knew I wanted that experience for myself someday.”

Capehart, now an MBA student at the Anderson School, has to balance her classwork with her job managing Anderson’s social media accounts, as well as spending time with her family.

“There are some nights when I am in class until 9:30 p.m. I’ve worked all day, and I haven’t seen my kids since dropping them off early that morning. In those moments it’s easy to feel like I can’t do it all – be a mom, a wife, and a student; but it’s in those moments that I also have to remember that this is just for a season.”

When she wraps up her time at UNM, Capehart wants her children to have the same feelings about going to college that she did visiting her mother on campus.

“When I walk across the stage at graduation, I hope my kids see that I persevered. Even when I wanted to give up, even when I thought I couldn’t do it, and that perseverance took me to amazing places. I hope they learn they can be anything, do anything, but they have to be willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to get there.”