Indiana University East graduate Amy Hughes has faced no shortage of obstacles in her education, but after making a promise to her late grandma, she was determined to complete her degree.

Amy Hughes

After over 10 years of reaching for higher education, Hughes completed her bachelor’s degree in communication studies entirely online while working full-time, and being a mother of two sons. She lives out-of-state in Douglas, Wyoming.

Hughes is a life-long Hoosier fan, adopting her love from her family and, namely, from watching Bobby Knight, the former Indiana University Hoosiers’ head basketball coach.

Higher education has been a goal for Hughes for decades.

With the encouragement of her Mamaw Sharon Egnew, Hughes previously attended the University of Southern Indiana, but life pulled her in many different directions, which made earning a degree, at that time, very difficult.

“She and my Papaw would even watch my sons so I could attend a class here or there, and I tried over the next few years to keep going. Eventually moving out to Wyoming for work, I had to put my prospects for higher education on hold,” Hughes said.

But Mamaw Egnew knew that Hughes was destined to finish her education, “‘I know you will go back and finish, I just know it. You’re too smart not to have a degree,’” Hughes shared.

Amy Hughes with her Mamaw, Sharon Egnew.

“I cannot express how much it means just to have someone in your corner who believes in you and unconditionally loves and supports you, no matter what,” Hughes said.

It was about 10 years later when Hughes received the news that her beloved Mamaw had been diagnosed with advanced cancer, having only a few weeks to a couple months to live.

Hughes and her family headed back to Indiana to be with her Mamaw and Papaw during this hard time.

“One of our last conversations was actually about my returning to college. I had recently visited IU for a college basketball game,” Hughes said. “And in our conversation about this experience, I mentioned that IU had an online four-year degree program.”

Mamaw Egnew was a life-long Hoosier basketball fan and had raised Hughes with the same passion for what she calls “our state’s second religion.”

Hughes recalls her Mamaw’s reaction, “I was in the middle of spoon-feeding her some Thanksgiving dressing, and she stopped me. She looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘A degree from Indiana… that’d be alright!’”

These words were all it took for Hughes to promise Mamaw Egnew that she would pursue a degree from Indiana University, despite living over a thousand miles away.

After taking some time to grieve, Hughes visited the IU Online admissions site, the screen displaying words that solidified her decision: “Fulfilling the Promise.”

On the search for a four-year IU degree program that she could complete entirely online, Hughes landed at IU East as a communication studies major.

Having a fascination with human communication since she was young, Hughes had ventured into careers in marketing, advertising, and communications over the last 20 years.

But for Hughes, communication is more than just an area of study or work.

“Fairly early-on in our youngest son’s life, I picked up that his communications were expressed differently than what I had experienced previously with his older brother, who is close in age,” Hughes said. “He was eventually diagnosed with Autism, and it was during this diagnosis process that I came to a deeper appreciation of a lot of the dynamics of how humans communicate.”

Along with that, Hughes is happy with the new understandings that her education in communications has gifted her.

“Ultimately, a study in the field of communications yields the knowledge that every human desires to be understood by their world. And in return, they want to connect with that world in some palpable way,” she said.

Hughes is also grateful for the guidance of assistant professors of communication studies Justin Combs, Danielle Halliwell, and Andrea Quenette among others.

These faculty have similar feelings toward Hughes.

“With her passion for learning, positive attitude, and tremendous work ethic, Amy is the type of student who faculty members hope end up in their department and in their courses,” Halliwell said. “She’s also one of those students who I am sure I will remember years down the road – that’s the kind of impact she has in the classroom (even a virtual classroom!).”

Combs described Hughes as having “consistently produced outstanding work,” noting that she was “always top of the class in any course she took with me.”

“This degree program through IU East has helped me cultivate a richer and ultimately deeper knowledge of communications, especially in the areas of theory, leadership, and research,” she said.

Hughes is sure that these skills will translate well into her career.

“This education is already aiding me in serving my clients, community, and especially my family in dynamic ways,” she said.

Halliwell agrees.

“Amy demonstrates a genuine interest in communication and excels in her ability to think critically about and apply course concepts to her personal and professional life,” Halliwell said.

Critical thinking is a trait that Combs valued about Hughes as well.

“Since I’ve known her, she has exhibited the kind of critical thinking, curiosity, and self-motivation that are the hallmarks of a serious collegiate learner,” Combs said.

“I also knew that any time she was in one of my classes, I would need to be ready to defend any quiz questions she got wrong, which honestly weren’t all that many over the years. I’m pretty sure she usually justified her thinking well enough to get me to award credit, even if we didn’t totally agree on who was right,” Combs said.

Hughes is this year’s Outstanding Student in Communications Studies, an award given to individuals in their degree program who displayed outstanding academic achievement at IU East. The Outstanding Student Awards were announced during the virtual Honors Convocation on April 30.

Hughes also expects IU to have a long-lasting effect on her family. “It’s more about the future,” she said.

“My oldest son has indicated he wants to attend IU partly because of seeing my work on my courses. That is a truly great memory of this experience, to be able to pass along that love of Indiana University with the next generation of our family.”

When asked what she would do to celebrate the completion of her degree, Hughes said: “In the era of COVID-19? Probably not much right away!”

However, she hopes for her and her family to return to Indiana to celebrate with their family and friends.

Looking forward, Hughes hopes to attend graduate school through Indiana University.

“I am, hopefully, going to attend graduate school to at least obtain my M.B.A., if not obtain a dual master’s in both business administration and marketing,” she said.

After her experience, Hughes has some words for those who want to return to complete their degrees: “There is no ‘right time.’”

“If you procrastinate, waiting for that perfect spot to open up in your life so you can complete your degree, I hate to tell you, but you’ll do an awful lot of standing around when you could be making progress. A class here or there is still progress, even if it feels small.”

Hughes feels that there is no shortage of sacrifices for anyone pursuing a degree.

“But nothing good ever comes without some form of sacrifice…you have to invest your time and energies. And by investing, you show yourself daily what this endeavor means to you,” she said.