Things to get done this week:
Having a baby is all in a day’s work, at least for Jennifer (Beitzel ’98) Kristoff (Elida, Ohio). She gave birth this past summer while working toward her intervention specialist licensure at Bluffton. A special needs preschool teacher for the Allen County Educational Service Center in Lima, Ohio, Kristoff began working on her master’s degree last spring. To help fund her schooling, she decided to take advantage of a $200,000 grant that Bluffton secured from the Ohio Department of Education, which offered free tuition for 25 trained and licensed educators to become intervention specialists.
At first, an expectant Kristoff wasn’t sure she would be able to take advantage of the Connections II program because she thought her pregnancy might undermine the program’s attendance policy. She waited until the absolute latest must-enroll-by date to make sure the baby would fit into her plans. “I had the baby on a Friday,” says Kristoff. “The next set of classes started on Monday. I missed Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was July 4th, and I was back in class on Thursday. And, I had a c-section.” Now that’s stamina. Kristoff says her peers were very impressed: “The guys in my class all said, ‘You’re the toughest lady we know!’” Kristoff says she had a lot of support from her husband, Steve, who frequently took care of daughters, Haley, 2, and Abigail, three months.
