Crown Point single mother takes advantage of online opportunity to earn degree

""If not for the distance learning program, I wouldn't be graduating yet," Pettineo says. "I did most of my first two years of coursework online. Then I added in some Friday night and all-day Saturday classes.""

In 2000, Barb Pettineo was employed full time as the head custodian at Eisenhower Elementary School in Crown Point, working two part-time jobs and single-handedly raising her 12-year-old daughter.

The last thing on her mind was resuming an education that would generate a baccalaureate degree and two professional certificates-which she will receive during Purdue University Calumet Fall Commencement Exercises Tuesday evening (12/19) at the Radisson Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville.

One might say that life has taken a fair share of turns for Pettineo since she graduated from Crown Point High School in 1978.

That summer of '78 she worked hard and saved up enough money to attend a university down state. Growing up on her parents' farm, she was fascinated with and adept at repairing farm equipment, so her plan was to get her degree and become a high school machine shop teacher.

However, the financial demands of college took their toll, and Pettineo dropped out and returned to Crown Point. Over the next few years, she held various jobs and also met her future husband while they worked at a horse farm.

Marriage was followed four years later by the birth of their daughter. But, sadly, in 1995, her husband succumbed to leukemia.

In the five years that ensued, Pettineo did all she could to provide for her daughter and herself. It was while working at Eisenhower Elementary School that she met Purdue Calumet Professor of Organizational Leadership and Supervision (OLS) Carl Jenks, whose wife is a teacher at Eisenhower.

Jenks encouraged the busy Pettineo to resume her education, suggesting distance learning classes.

The OLS program seemed the right fit for her and her interests, and the distance learning component fit her demanding schedule.

"If not for the distance learning program, I wouldn't be graduating yet," she said. "I did most of my first two years of coursework online. Then I added in some Friday night and all-day Saturday classes."

Admittedly, it wasn't easy for her, but she hung in there and looks forward to the doors that will open for her thanks to her degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision and certificates in Safety and Professional Supervision.

"Barb is one of the hardest working students I have ever had the pleasure to meet," Jenks said. "She makes the instructor's job challenging and a lot more exciting."