{"id":2512,"date":"2010-11-29T12:10:38","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T19:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2018-01-31T11:31:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T18:31:39","slug":"grandma-to-join-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=2512","title":{"rendered":"Grandma to join graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Debbie Lapioli was pragmatic when asked how she would use time off near the Thanksgiving holiday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a paper due \u2013 that\u2019s what I\u2019ll be doing on my day off,\u201d Lapioli, executive assistant, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, said before elaborating on holiday plans that included visiting family.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first vacation day devoted to study in Lapioli\u2019s 14-year quest to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree at UCCS. But it may be the last as she is set to join an estimated 500 graduates Dec. 17 at the World Arena participating in commencement exercises.<\/p>\n

For the 56-year-old Lapioli, walking across the stage and accepting her diploma will be the culmination of a dream that began in 1972 when she graduated from high school in Santa Ana, Calif.\u00a0 As she racked up\u00a0 life experiences including two associate\u2019s degrees, multiple moves as the trailing spouse of an airman, mother, grandmother, single parent, illness, and a new marriage, she kept the goal of earning a four-year degree in sight. Applauding her at the ceremonies will be her husband, four children, three grandchildren and several in-laws. Many in the Lapioli section earned degrees from UCCS themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve earned a Ph.D. in life,\u201d Lapioli says.\u00a0 \u201cBut I wanted a B.A. in communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1996, Lapioli has taken classes when she could fit them in between work schedules, raising four children and taking active roles in both her church and staff governance at UCCS. She used the employee tuition assistance program for many of her classes and believes the courses not only met her personal goals but helped professionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a practical side of seeing what students are going through,\u201d Lapioli said. \u201cParticularly when I worked in the dean\u2019s office in the College of Education, I think I was better equipped to help students having been in their position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapioli encouraged other staff members to take advantage of the tuition assistance program which provides up to nine credit hours annually at no charge with supervisor approval. This fall, more than 50 UCCS staff members took courses ranging from general psychology to intermediate German.<\/p>\n

Supervisor approval wasn\u2019t a problem for Lapioli. Her supervisor, Brian Burnett, vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, will finish a Ph.D. in education and will participate in Dec. 17 ceremonies.\u00a0 Two student assistants in the vice chancellor\u2019s office, Jessica Berry and Brittany Trimble, will also graduate.<\/p>\n

Other staff members who plan to graduate and their degrees include:<\/p>\n

Nina Ellis-Frischmann,<\/strong> assistant director, Teaching and Learning Center, will earn two master\u2019s degrees, one in history and a second in leadership. Ellis-Frischmann recently announced her resignation and plans to move to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Rachel Gibson, <\/strong>program assistant, Disability Services and University Testing Center, will earn a master\u2019s degree in leadership.<\/p>\n

Melissa Reynolds, <\/strong>academic adviser, Student Success Center, will earn a master\u2019s degree in leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do it,\u201d Lapioli offered as advice. \u201cThink of the tortoise and the hare. If you keep steady and keep going, you\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debbie Lapioli was pragmatic when asked how she would use time off near the Thanksgiving holiday. \u201cI\u2019ve got a paper due \u2013 that\u2019s what I\u2019ll be doing on my day off,\u201d Lapioli, executive assistant, Vice (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20501,"comment_status":"open","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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[44,42],"class_list":["post-2512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-personnel","tag-administration-and-finance","tag-commencement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/DSC_4193_2-199x300.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-Ew","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29256,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/29256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}