Two Friends Are Earning their Master’s Degrees Together – Just as It Should Be
By Chuck Carlson
When the journey is over, and they have earned their Master’s in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Michigan State University, Marguerite Christian and Kacie Caldwell may come to Michigan for another journey.
“Kacie and I are hiking buddies,” Christian said. “For our graduation, we thought we’d come to Michigan and a take a nice scenic day trip hike in the lovely Lake Michigan area.”
For now, though, they will keep working toward their degrees while doing their jobs in the Reno. Nev. area, where they are medical technologists at Charles River Laboratories.
Christian and Caldwell are both University of Nevada-Reno graduates with BS degrees in biochemistry (Christian also has a degree in molecular biology, and Caldwell has another Master’s degree in microbiology from New York’s Wagner College). Though they never met in college, they began working in the same clinical pathology lab at Charles River. A friendship developed borne out of similar interests in travel, Pokemon Go, science and, yes, hiking.
“Marguerite and I met at Charles River just over four years ago, and we became great friends,” Caldwell said, adding a cautionary comment regarding hiking. “We sometimes manage to get lost while hiking and even got lost while on a trip to Ireland.”
Still, it’s been a friendship that has developed into areas neither initially considered. And both decided, nearly at the same time, that a Master’s degree would benefit each as they moved forward in their careers. They considered several online programs but saw that MSU offered programs that would match their career goals.
“Kacie saw something in me, and she asked me to join her in the MSU program,” Christian said. “We applied together, were accepted together, and we try to pick the same courses.”
The program has proved to be a benefit for both.
“It really has worked out,” Christian said. “I have learned so much. In fact, I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know.”
“I really like that the program is so tied with what I do at Charles River,” Caldwell said. “I have a lot of experience recognizing any changes in results seen in our samples, but I want to increase my knowledge as to why those changes are happening. The classes really focus on the work I’m doing now and has already improved my understanding of my job greatly.”
Christian hopes her master’s degree will allow her to move up the ranks at Charles River, a place she says “is going to be my forever home.” She hopes to work more in drug safety assessment, travel to different Charles River locations around the world, and meet more with clients.
“I’d like to move out of the lab but still be involved in the lab,” she said. “The Master’s degree will give me the kind of foundation that would help me do that.”
That goal has been bolstered thanks to the Hazel and Karen Kiser Endowed Scholarship for Returning Adult Students that Christian recently received.
“I had gotten an email about the scholarship, and it was very pertinent to my situation,” she said. “It was for divorced people who experience financial difficulties, and I said, ‘My gosh, that’s me.’ Fellowships through the university are really encouraging and for people like me, it’s nice to see we have support through programs like this. It’s also exciting to see what kind of opportunities this degree will bring.”
But first comes their visit to Lake Michigan, a journey that will be that much more fulfilling because the two friends will do it together.