On her way to a bachelor’s degree, Raegan Austin attended six universities, served eight years in the Air National Guard, and switched career focuses three times.

Right out of high school, Austin, an upstate New York native, planned to study art history so she could land her dream job: curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

It wasn’t just her top career choice, it was her only career choice.

As Austin recalls, however, “1998 Raegan” struggled to adjust to higher education and being away from her friends and family. In fact, her academic performance suffered to the point that her first university essentially kicked her out of school.

“I know I’ve come a long way since then,” Austin said. “I’ve learned a lot about myself.”

Now, she’s a spring 2016 University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate, earning her bachelor’s degree in biology. She excelled since transferring to UALR in 2014 and will enroll in medical school in the fall.

Instead of working in her favorite fine arts museum, as the military veteran once planned to do, Austin intends to become a physician in the Air Force.

Following her first-year of college, Austin joined the Air National Guard and enrolled in a two-year school. Her military experience helped her realize just how big the world was and that maybe it was too early to confine her aspirations to curator of an art museum in Boston.

While serving in the military part time, she turned her career focus toward marketing, working a full-time job in the industry while taking courses for a marketing degree in the evenings.

Her husband, Michael, serves in the Navy, which means Austin has had to transfer to multiple schools as Michael’s  job took him from base to base.

The couple spent time on both coasts and in Guam before Michael was stationed in the Little Rock area.

After taking some time away from school to raise her daughter, Austin changed her academic goal to a biology degree while her family was living in Guam. She enjoyed the coursework but wasn’t convinced she wanted to become a doctor.

“The idea of being responsible for patients’ health was way too daunting at first,” Austin said.

Her confidence grew as a result of her academic performance, and gradually, a medical career didn’t seem out of reach.

After she transferred to UALR, she found faculty members and advisers who were dedicated to helping her succeed.

“I chose mentors that really got me and saw that my path was very different from anyone else’s,” Austin said.

One of those UALR advisers, Dr. Johanna Miller Lewis, associate dean of undergraduate programs and pre-professional health adviser, was particularly impressed by Austin’s determination.

“She immediately stood out to me for her initiative to complete college, her maturity for realizing that she wants to become a doctor of osteopathic medicine, and her organizational and time management skills to attend college full time and make excellent grades, while simultaneously raising a family,” Lewis said.

While Austin enrolls this fall in the inaugural class of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in Jonesboro, Arkansas, her husband and 8-year-old daughter, Ridley, are likely to move to the West Coast as part of Michael’s next military assignment.  

The temporary separation will be difficult, but Austin said she will have her parents’ support. One of the benefits of moving to Arkansas has been the close proximity of Austin’s mother and step-father in St. Louis.

Looking back, Austin is amazed at how far she has come and the change in direction her path took.

“There were several times in my 20s when friends from high school were graduating college, but I wasn’t there yet, when I said that a degree was ‘just a piece of paper’ and that I didn’t need that to feel whole,” Austin said. “Now that I have completed my degree, I know that it is not just a piece of paper representing checked boxes, but it is a symbol of this customized experience that was very worth the journey.

“My diploma isn’t the same as any other — mine is different because it represents my own adventure.”