{"id":128986,"date":"2020-12-17T17:22:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T00:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128986"},"modified":"2020-12-17T17:22:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T00:22:26","slug":"commencement-feature-jennifer-price-breaks-the-cycle-and-her-own-limitations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=128986","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Jennifer Price breaks the cycle \u2013 and her own limitations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jennifer Price has faced walls in her life, from single parenthood, putting herself through school as a first-generation student and struggling to find a sense of belonging. As she graduates from UCCS as the owner of her own yoga business, she is breaking down those walls \u2013 and building a bright future for herself and her family.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ever since she was 16, Jennifer Price has been breaking down walls in her life. And when she graduates from UCCS with her MBA this December, she will break something even bigger: a generational cycle of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But more important is what she is building. Yoga brick by yoga brick, Price is building her own bright future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the Cycle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Price grew up in a poor family in Spokane, Washington and emancipated herself from an unhealthy home environment when she was 16 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived on my own since I was 16,\u201d Price said. \u201cI had my own apartment. I supported myself \u2013 I did reception work at a car dealership. I graduated from high school. I wanted to be a paralegal, and I was accepted to Syracuse University…And then I got pregnant with my oldest daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Price’s business, Yoga Worldwide, launched virtually due to COVID-19 \u2013 but in the future, it will be a space of inclusivity and belonging. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As she juggled supporting herself and her daughter as a single parent, Price also realized that a career as a paralegal wasn\u2019t right for her. She dropped out of college, instead working as a full-charge bookkeeper. But she still had a hunger to earn her degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt this point I had been married, had another child, and\nthen gotten divorced,\u201d Price said. \u201cI was a single parent raising and\nsupporting my kids. It was a really trying time for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Price succeeded in graduating from the University of Phoenix with a bachelor\u2019s degree in business and human resources. She used the degree to start a career in the insurance business, working for Travelers Insurance, where she was quickly promoted to a manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Price met her future husband, a writer who lived in Colorado Springs. She and her daughters, Kiarra and Leondra, moved to the Springs in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Price hit a wall in her career after relocating, she knew that she and her family were finally on stable enough footing for her to earn her MBA at UCCS. And when she graduates, Price will be the first in her family to have earned a high school diploma \u2013\u00a0not to mention an advanced degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been so emotional about graduating from UCCS,\u201d Price\nsaid. \u201cMy grandmother started her family at 16, which was the lineage for me. I\nwanted more for my own kids. It was really important for me to break that\ncycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laying the Foundation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even before graduating from UCCS with her MBA, Price\u2019s\nbusiness classes have paid off. After earning a promotion this September, she\u2019s\nbeen managing a team of insurance agents \u2013 and pouring her passion for helping\nothers into the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason that I\u2019ve pursued the degrees I have is that I want\nother people to see their own potential,\u201d Price said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve\nalways struggled with, in my own life. And it\u2019s my passion project: helping\npeople to see their worth, to see what they\u2019re capable of, and helping them to\nreaching their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Price practices Tree Pose.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarning my degree is only going to continue to open doors\nfor me to reach those people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By all accounts, Price is thriving in her new role. And at\nthe same time, she is laying the foundation for her own business: a company\ncalled Yoga Worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price began practicing yoga years ago. The practice quickly\nbecame a passion \u2013 and even while juggling a full-time job and her MBA, she\ngraduated from yoga teacher training in July 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though I had a million other things going on and I\nreally didn\u2019t have room on my plate for anything else, I knew it was right,\u201d Price\nsaid. \u201cI felt like I was home, and I felt like I belonged. And that\u2019s something\nI\u2019ve never really felt in my life. I couldn\u2019t ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Price is focused on bringing together the core\nprinciples of business and yoga to create a space where anyone is welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy yoga business is bringing yoga to people who may feel\nlike they don\u2019t belong,\u201d Price said. \u201cBecause I\u2019ve always been the girl who\ndoesn\u2019t look like she belongs in a yoga class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Price, the practice of yoga doesn\u2019t just bring physical benefits\n\u2013 it can bring emotional and spiritual healing to entire communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you step on your mat and move through the practice of yoga, it allows you to connect with yourself \u2013 not just in your body, but in your soul,\u201d Price says. \u201cIt allows you to connect with pieces of you that maybe you\u2019ve forgotten, or maybe you\u2019re struggling with, or maybe places that need healing. I think that yoga can bring a person strength that they didn\u2019t know existed. I know it did for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Yoga Worldwide launched virtually due to COVID-19, Price knows that between the skills she learned at UCCS and her own determination, she can continue to make the company successful \u2013\u00a0and inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to create a community where no matter what someone looks like, no matter their background or the challenges they have faced physically, mentally or emotionally, everybody is welcome,” Price said. “That\u2019s the gift I want to give to people \u2013\u00a0the gift of finding themselves and finding their place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a Bright Future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Price builds a business, she is also building a bright\nfuture for herself and her two daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When Price shared that her oldest daughter Kiarra had just been accepted to UCCS, she smiled through tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me to see her accepted to college\u2026\u201d Price paused. \u201cIt means I broke the cycle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s no feeling like that, to give my daughters a better life than I have had,” she continued. “Both of my kids want to be doctors. And the fact that it wasn\u2019t a question just broke me open. It wasn\u2019t a question of if<\/em> they were going to college \u2013 it was a question of what to study and where.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was able to show both of my daughters where hard work can get you in life,\u201d Price said. \u201cThey were able to see not only the struggle, but the success, and to want the success for themselves.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And that\u2019s it. That\u2019s what I set out to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price will be one of a record-setting 1,100 graduates from the summer and fall semesters at UCCS. She will celebrate her achievement during the\u00a02020 fall commencement ceremony<\/a>\u00a0on Dec. 18. Congratulations to Jen and the Class of 2020!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First in her family to graduate from high school \u2013\u00a0let alone with an advanced degree \u2013 Price is building a brighter future for herself and her two daughters, one yoga brick at a time. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":128993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,46,49],"tags":[40,42,332,63,60],"class_list":["post-128986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-business","category-campus-announcements","tag-college-of-business","tag-commencement","tag-more-news","tag-student-life","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/IMG_9876.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-xyq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128986"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129013,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128986\/revisions\/129013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/128993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}