Grad Story '17: A Dream Deferred, Not Deterred

When she enrolled at St. Ambrose in 2012 with an eye on the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree she received on Saturday, Heather Birely told her husband, Eric, she was fulfilling a goal she'd set for herself as high school junior some 18 years earlier.

"My husband used to think that was a story I was making up," she said.

He did, at least, until a video of his wife's appearance in a small-town high school pageant was discovered and her three sons plugged it in for fun. "In that video, I said that when I graduated from high school I wanted to school to be a physical therapist," she said.

Eric, a veteran member of the Davenport Fire Department, turned to his wife with an apologetic glance that said, "You weren't just making that up."

Heather and Eric married shortly after her high school graduation and the ensuing birth of their three sons stalled Heather's plans to attend St. Ambrose. "Once we had the kids, I needed to focus on them," she said. "I didn't want to put them in daycare. I stayed home with them until they were all in school."

This, though, is a story of a dream deferred, not deterred.

With her sons in school, Heather worked for a decade in retail, the last eight in a management position, but the demanding hours and the realization that the work she was doing wasn't truly her passion ultimately led her back to St. Ambrose.

Initially, the then 35-year-old soccer mom had second thoughts about her decision as she pursued her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science degree. Her sons had to show her how to build a graph on the computer. And she could have felt uncomfortable surrounded by students who closer to the age of those sons than her own.

"But the thing about Ambrose," she said, "is I never felt out of place. There were some students who didn't say much because of our age difference, but I have a group of very close friends I have developed who are my kids' age."

Plus, she said, "Being in class with the younger generation gave me a perception into how they look at the world, and how they look at how older generations look at them. It also gave me an insight into things their generation is dealing with, and I was able to use that information to help guide my kids."

One thing Heather never did was to try and guide her sons to follow her dreams. "I have never tried to push what I do or what I love on them because ultimately they have to make their own choices," she said.

Choose, they have. And they've chosen to pursue careers in physical therapy.

"I am honestly not sure how it happened, because I didn't push it on them," Heather said. "They all found their own way to it."

Moreover, Cody, a 22-year-old senior at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa; Alex, 20, a St. Ambrose junior; and Kyle, a 19-year-old first-year student at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., all have an interest in the St. Ambrose DPT program.

Alex was accepted into the DPT program at St. Ambrose and, as his mother did, will be working toward his doctoral degree as he finishes undergrad next year. Cody will interview for a place in that same cohort in January.

Sibling rivalry won't be an issue, Heather said. "Especially not in the St. Ambrose program, which is structured for everyone to work together to accomplish their goals.

Getting into the program is where the competition is. Once you're here, it becomes a family. Working together toward goals is so much better than seeing who gets more A's or does better on tests. It's about learning what you're there for. And everybody succeeding."

Another thing of which Heather is fairly certain is that, while physical therapy may be the family business, there won't be a family practice. Her sons' practical interests in the profession, as well as her own, are too diverse. Cody is interested in working with handicapped- and special-needs children. Alex is a former soccer player who hopes to work with athletes. Kyle, too, is contemplating a career as a pediatric therapist.

Their mother, meanwhile, will start her career as an acute care rehab specialist working with the elderly at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton, Iowa, in January.

As her long-awaited academic career at St. Ambrose comes to an end, Heather also is confident her sons couldn't find a better place to pursue their dreams.

"My kids were raised with a strong love for family," she said. "That's something they look for in a school. And that's part of the draw at St. Ambrose. The professors know you. You're more than a name or a number."