Staying ahead is second nature to Andranee Haynie. A self-described “Type A planner,” she prefers to get things done early, especially as she balances working as a behavioral educational assistant (EA) at Northfield Elementary in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, raising two kids, and pursuing her B.A. in Global Education (BAGE) at Reach University.
Andranee’s story starts with her enrolling in community college at 18 simply because it felt like the right thing to do at the time. Without much guidance on financial aid or what she wanted from her educational experience, she left a year and a half later with nothing but student loans to show for it.
Life continued, and at 19, Andranee got married and began building a successful career in retail management, eventually working her way up to managing three Payless locations before transitioning to Walmart. However, after losing her great-grandmother, who helped raise her, and missing several of her young family’s milestones, she knew something had to give. So on Labor Day in 2023, Andranee did what she called the unthinkable: she walked out of her job without a backup plan.
Two weeks after leaving retail, Andranee joined Murfreesboro City Schools, where she began building a new career in education. After two years with the district, Andranee received an email about Reach University’s Apprenticeship Degree. Based on her first college experience, Andranee wasn’t thrilled about taking on student loan debt again; however, that’s what made Reach different: For $75 per month, she could earn a liberal arts degree and credit for the work she was already doing in the classroom. This all seemed too good to be true.
Thanks to her husband, she attended the information session and enrolled soon after.
During her first semester, Andranee and her family experienced three significant losses; through it all, she ended the semester with her lowest grade at 98. “My grandpa always said people make time for what they want to make time for,” Andranee said. “Sometimes you just have to schedule it out better.”
Andranee can already see what she’s learning at Reach showing up in her classroom. “[Reach] helped me see some of my students in a different light and how I interacted with them. I’ve taken some different approaches to things since starting college.” A written assignment on trauma-informed practices helped influence her to move into a behavioral EA role, and concepts from her courses are shaping how she approaches student behavior and classroom relationships. “It’s important to show the kids that they can make it. Like, I’m making it,” Andranee said.
As she prepares to go into her second semester with three and a half years remaining, she’s already telling her fellow EAs to join her at Reach University. “I’ve told every EA, ‘You’re already here. Just do it!’”
Being the planner that she is, Andranee is already looking forward to the day she can officially call herself a teacher, and maybe more importantly, she’s looking forward to the celebratory trip she’s planning to Disney once she graduates. That trip will be here before she knows it.