Both Kathy Rhodes and Linda Hancock defy the norms at Eastern when it comes to age, but nonetheless embrace their roles as nontraditional students.

With the average age of those enrolled at Eastern being 22, according to institutional planning and management, traditional students are typically defined as those younger than 30 and any older than the benchmark are defined as nontraditional.

Rhodes, a senior dietetics major, and Hancock, a senior family and consumer sciences major with teacher certification, have overcome much adversity to get to the point where they are in their college careers.

Both 50-year-olds are grateful for their life experiences and say the past helps them value the higher education they are receiving today.

Rhodes, who hails from Ohlman and commutes to campus each day, said in her younger years she was not aware of all the educational options available to her, besides not believing she had the determination to pursue higher education.

“I also got caught up in life,” said Rhodes, who has one grown son.

After getting married for a second time, she eventually decided in 1997 she wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree, but wasn’t sure what field she desired to study.

Rhodes did not realize what she wanted to devote her skills to until her niece’s December 1997 death. Her niece had probed Rhodes to find food she could feasibly eat as the cancer marring her gradually took its toll on her, and not until Rhodes reflected on the words of her late niece did she decide to study dietetics.

In January 1998, Rhodes began a three-year stint at Lincoln Land College in Springfield, before transferring to Eastern in 2002.

“Eastern has one of the top food science programs in the nation,” she said.

One thing that never fails to shock Rhodes is how bold and self-assured today’s generation of college students are.

“They definitely are not as modest (as other generations),” Rhodes said. “I love these young students though.

“I can’ t say enough about them. They keep me young and active.”

In spite of their age differences, she said she has the utmost respect for her fellow students and vice-versa.

“I treat them as an equal,” she said. “I have a lot of classes where I’m the oldest student.”

Citing her 50th birthday last December as a day she’ll never forget the generosity of her fellow classmates, Rhodes said when she walked into one of her classes in Klehm Hall the classroom was adorned with balloons and students showered her with ‘happy birthdays’ and baked cookies and brownies in honor of her special day.

Rhodes also gives high praise to Eastern as an institution that strives to serve all varieties of students.

“I think Eastern puts its best foot forward when it comes to serving both traditional and nontraditional students,” she said

As an avid baker who writes cookbooks on the side to generate money for her town’s recreational fund, which provides meals and gift baskets to the needy during the holidays, combined with working toward her diploma, Rhodes said her life is quite a balancing act.

“The biggest challenge is I have to work two to three times harder than other students.”

On the other hand, Hancock said being pigeonholed as a nontraditional student can be daunting at times.

“I feel out of place sometimes and tend to keep my mouth shut sometimes,” the Harrisburg native said. “In some classes I’m the only nontraditional student. But I feel like I have an advantage over my peers in this department because I have so much life experience.”

Previously a student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale beginning in 2000, Hancock switched majors three times. She shifted her fields of study from psychology to social work, before transferring into Eastern’s family and consumer sciences program, which Hancock has been enrolled in for more than a year.

As an on-campus student, Hancock said it can be challenging to continuously muster the energy to commute to Harrisburg each weekend to see her husband, Terri. He has been with the National Guard out of Marion for eight years after being active in the U.S. Army for 11 years.

But she cited one prime reason that motivates her to pursue her degree after years of working a string of odd jobs while raising her three children, who are adults now.

“I was tired of working for minimum wage,” she said. Hancock said she did the work of people with a master’s or bachelor’s degree but for low pay.

One particularly disturbing memory of why Hancock believes she didn’t enroll in college from the get-go after graduating high school still haunts her.

“In high school, a teacher told me I’d be a welfare mom,” she said.

Both women exert a certain wisdom and foresight that often has many other traditional students emulating them.

“(The students) help me, I help them,” Rhodes said. “They tell me unbelievable things. I think I’m a person they can bounce things off.”

Their life experiences have also prompted them to give tidbits of advice to younger students regarding the endless options they will encounter as they enter the workforce.

“Whatever career you go into, make sure you have fun with it because life is too short not to be happy in what you are doing,” Rhodes said. “There is nothing, short of marital problems, worse than getting up everyday and going to a job you are dreading.”

Thrill-seeking students also may want to consider the department of defense dependent schools as a source of employment, Hancock said.

“Working for them gives one the chance to see the world and has the added plus of having the support of not only the faculty, but the military chain of command, if needed, which can be a real boost. Plus, the salary is usually pretty good.”