Job Loss Leads to Career Gains for Spencer Graduate
Cammy (Hefner) Trierweiler went back to school years after graduating from Spencer High School in 1992. A life change put her back among the sea of undergraduates, but has led to a career in teaching.
Cammy (Hefner) Trierweiler ‘19 graduated from BVU Spencer and became the third teacher in her family.
The first two are her children, who got a bit of a head start on Mom as they attended college immediately after their graduation from Clay Central-Everly
High School.
Cammy went back years after her 1992 Spencer High School commencement. A life change put her back among the sea of undergraduates, 20-some years later.
“There are so many people I went to classes with who have families, and they’re working full-time jobs to better themselves.”
Cammy (Hefner) Trierweiler
“I managed a store in Spencer that closed a little over four years ago,” she says. “In minutes, I went from being a store manager and feeling in control to being 40-something without a job and without a college education.”
Trierweiler didn’t panic. She and her husband, Clint Trierweiler, who owns a distribution business, discussed their future. Cammy applied for a dislocated-worker grant through Iowa Workforce Development and returned to school at Iowa Lakes Community College, where she packed two years and an associate degree into 1.5 years.
She then transferred to BVU Spencer and began taking evening classes and online instruction.
“There are so many people I went to classes with who have families, and they’re working full-time jobs to better themselves,” she says. “I was able to attend class and be with my family as much as I could.”
Trierweiler served as a student teacher the past semester at Lincoln and Johnson elementary schools in Spencer, instructing fifth graders and first graders. She completed her coursework by the end of the semester and now joins her two oldest children in the teaching profession.
“I’ll probably spend this spring serving as a substitute teacher,” she says. “And I’ll earn a full-time teaching position as soon as I can.”
Trierweiler remains thankful for the wonderful faculty and staff she met and came to know at BVU in Spencer.
“I had a great experience with professors, financial aid staff, you name it,” Trierweiler says. “I had no idea how to submit an assignment on the internet when I started. And now, I’m using it every day, and will continue to as a teacher.”
She’s learned a lot about education, and a lot about herself in the process.
“I’ll walk this spring at Commencement,” she says with pride. “My family will be there. They’ve seen the hard work and the tears of joy. They’ve been so supportive. So has everyone at BVU.”