BEMIDJI — Alicia Christenson always planned to go to college, but it took her a few years to get there.
Born and raised in Bemidji, Christenson is a non-traditional student who will be the first in her family to get a bachelor’s degree at BSU’s commencement today. She’s already got a pair of two-year degrees from Northwest Technical College and plans to study for an MBA at the university and — fingers crossed — get a PhD so she can teach business and accounting classes there.
“I’m ambitious,” Christenson said with a chuckle. She also works at the school’s Memorial Hall.
Christenson graduated from Bemidji High School in 1997 and worked a series of retail jobs over the next several years, but said she’s dreamed of being a teacher since she was four years old.
“It just always kept going in the back of my mind: you wanted to teach, why aren’t we doing this?” she remembered. Christenson said she tries to be a good example for her three kids and wanted to get her bachelor’s degree before they start college. She hopes to teach at NTC while she works on her doctorate.
“I like the whole dynamic of the university and professors,” Christenson said.
She said likes seeing a student light up when they understand new material. “It’s just amazing…Yes, you could probably get that at a lower grade level, but here, I think, is where I feel more at home.”
Christenson said she loves everything about business itself, and said experience and knowledge in that field is in high demand — and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
“To be able to teach somebody about that, and the accounting side the business side to make it grow is never a bad thing,” she said.