A counselor at Rider High School takes her education to the next level as she receives her doctorate degree.  With this, Wendy Risner becomes the third faculty member to earn the title, specifically in philosophy and counselor education at Texas Tech University.  She also has a bachelor’s in English, and a master’s in counselor education.  She wants to work as a professor and teach counselor education to masters level students at a university, but she would be open to other opportunities that come with her doctorate.

To reach her lofty goal, Risner took on difficult classes to receive her doctorate. She struggled with a full year of statistics and advanced statistics, crying through a lot of those classes. Another struggle is the technology gap Risner experienced. She was used to traditional face-to-face classes while getting her bachelor’s and master’s. The adjustment to online courses was intimidating to her.

Despite the changes, Risner came out learning a few things about herself. Many students drop out before he or she can finish his or her dissertation, but she had a passionate determination to reach her goal.

“I learned that I have a lot [of] drive to push myself to my goal. People don’t push you, you have to push yourself,” she said.

Risner put her main goal of teaching at a university on hold until she was able to go back to school after a couple years of experience in a high school.  She believes that having experience made her a better student, and it gave her more self-confidence.

“Education is always an asset and you can never go wrong with pursuing your education because it opens so many doors and helps you with your self-confidence and I would just encourage every student to go as far as you can,” she said.