Holli Kaiser and the Education Double Degree

Holli Kaiser would stand out in any crowd. Not because she’s high energy, not because she’s an ambitious, smart young woman, not because she’s in a wheelchair. Holli stands out because she has tremendous passion for life and sees the car accident that severed her spine as a gift.

Ten years ago, Holli was cruising along in the slow lane of life when the car in which she was a passenger crashed, paralyzing her from the waist down. Before the accident Holli was apathetic about school and working part time at GI Joe’s. She felt like an invisible person, no different from anyone else, not particularly a problem kid, “I was pushed around between alternative schools, but I wasn’t a troublemaker. I just didn’t care.”

Then this transformative event in the shape of a terrible accident caused Holli to switch gears. “Everything is a choice,” she says. “And your life is the sum of all your choices.” Holli “chose to go forward. I was not bitter. I am very, very independent. I learned to really appreciate the accident.” Within a short time after the accident, she finished her GED and a month later enrolled in Chemeketa Community College. Seriously motivated now, she moved on to OSU and majored in Human Development and Family Sciences.

“I chose HDFS because I wanted to learn all those things I didn’t get as a child…family stuff, how to nurture kids, understanding how families work together.” Holli knew she wanted to do something with children and families, but wasn’t sure what. As graduation loomed closer and closer, Holli made another transformational choice. She enrolled in the Education Double Degree, combining her passion for family studies with a drive to teach high schoolers, “I have empathy for kids in high school; I can spot a turned-off kid a mile away.”

“I want to teach kids how to be good humans, good family members, and informed citizens. The Education Double Degree is teaching me how to reach students at their own developmental levels using their individual learning styles,” says Holli. Excited about becoming the kind of teacher who can motivate every kind of student, apathetic or engaged, Holli says, “I want to create a classroom atmosphere where my students have choices for learning.”

In contrast to her pre-accident days, Holli knows exactly where she’s going and the Education Double Degree program is helping her get there, “I really wanted to get out in the world and work. I’ll have my teaching license as soon as I graduate.” Looking ahead, Holli says, “The accident was just another step in my journey. My life is really about passion for what I want to do. I always knew I was going to do something positive.”