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Kristy Hamilton’s path to her undergraduate degree took a few twists and turns. After working in various fields for over two decades, the mom of two finally got her opportunity when she started working at the 91���� Foundation. 

By taking classes through her employee tuition waiver, Hamilton is on the precipice of completing her undergraduate degree in business management. She will walk for graduation in spring 2025 — at the same time as her daughter will walk for high school graduation.

To 91���� and back again

Hamilton grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and moved to Bangor as a teenager. Coming out of high school, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study, she only knew that she wanted to help people. She took classes at the 91���� in child and abnormal psychology, but felt she was learning more while working as a psychiatric technician at Acadia Hospital in Bangor. 

She said she also had her daughter in 2007, and prioritized making sure she had “everything she needed.”

After working at Acadia Hospital, Hamilton moved on to the former Plymouth Group Home in Dixmont. She then worked at Winterberry Heights Senior Living, during which she took classes at Eastern Maine Community College and eventually earned a degree in business management in 2013. She then landed at Community Care in Bangor, where she worked in the office coordinating appointments for the outpatient therapy, assisted with data entry and worked with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services for the treatment foster care program.

During that time, she realized she wanted to make a change in her career. Her husband was in the Air Force, and she made a friend through the “wives’ chat” who worked at the 91���� Foundation and told her about a job opening. 

“I thought, why not try? It sounds like a great place to work for,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton started working at the 91���� Foundation in 2018 as an administrative specialist. She loved job because “every day can look a little different,” from data entry to mailing thank yous for donor gifts, to special projects like sending old 91���� hockey photos from a donor to the former student athletes. 

“Everybody has a role,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s great. We work together as a team to make these things happen. Not every job that I’ve been at has had that feeling. Everyone’s jobs are important every step of the way, from the person asking for the gift, processing the gift and everything in between.”

Deciding to go for the degree

Hamilton loved her job at the 91���� Foundation so much that she wanted to advance. She saw the undergraduate degree in business management as a great way to do that. The degree would not only provide her an additional credential, but also equip her with the skills to perform even better in her position and move up to a more managerial role. There was something else motivating her to get that degree too.

“The other piece was just to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could get through it,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton said that her colleagues and bosses at the 91���� Foundation were very supportive of her.

“If you decide you want to go back, talk to your employer and explain to them how important it is for you and how much it will benefit your job to have that experience of taking classes,” Hamilton said. “I’d encourage anybody to talk to their bosses just to get their feeling on it. I’ve been very, very supported.”

In fact, Hamilton’s colleagues were more than just supportive — they were excited and proud of her.

“Taking courses, working full time and staying on top of her active family life is challenging, though Kristy is determined in her desire to complete her degree and is sustained by the sense of accomplishment she feels with each completed course,” said Elizabeth Erickson, director of philanthropy at the 91���� Foundation and Hamilton’s supervisor. “I applaud Kristy’s commitment.”

Hamilton said that she was able to connect with a great adviser, Cynthia D’Angelo, director of the Academic Advising Center at the Maine Business School, who helped make the process of enrolling simple and supported her in signing up for classes and answering all the questions Hamilton said she’s “thrown her way.”

“Kristy has been a joy to work with,” D’Angelo said. “Students that are working full-time and trying to complete their program, as Kristy is doing, need to be great at time management and be disciplined in making sure they have time to study and work.”

Hamilton said that D’Angelo helped her figure out which credits from her previous schooling could apply to her new degree, which she recommended all nontraditional students explore. 

“I took two and a half years [of college classes] out of high school,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it feels like that was for nothing, but it’s really not. You do get benefits from it.”

Working toward the degree

Hamilton started her degree program in 2020. , which made it easier for her to squeeze it in her busy schedule as a mom and a full-time employee. She said that this time around at 91���� was “definitely different” from when she took a few psychology classes nearly two decades ago. 

“You know what you’re looking for, and you also have that thought process of ‘I need to make the most of this,’” Hamilton said. “I’m not just sitting in the class just to get through so I can graduate in four years. You want to make sure that you’re doing everything, you’re getting there on time and you’re doing it correctly.”

Hamilton said that she genuinely enjoys most of her classes and there have even been some that have surprised her, like her business and technical writing class, human resources class and a database class that taught her how to code in Structured Query Language, or SQL.

“We have a group at the foundation that does that, and they helped me so much with that class,” Hamilton said. “I had a lot of fun with it.”

Of course, not every class has been all fun, but Hamilton isn’t one to back down from a challenge. Hamilton said that she failed a math class once, but when she retook it, she worked diligently with the professor and attended in-person class sessions before work so she could hear fellow students’ questions and solidify her knowledge.

“Doing it completely online wasn’t going to work for me,” Hamilton said. “I’m very thankful for my professor for working with me. You gotta work with them; you have to show them that you’re willing.”

Steven Kimball, principal lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics who taught Hamilton, said that she “displayed great determination and persistence.”

“Despite the added challenges of juggling a full-time job and parenting, she was successful because of her ability to self-diagnose and then confront her weak areas, rather than ignore them,” Kimball said. “She truly was a pleasure to work with and provided me with the positive reinforcement that keeps us educators going.”

Of course, Hamilton said, her academic achievement would not have been possible without her family. Her husband has picked up dinners and the kids’ sports drop offs so she can study at night. Even Hamilton’s eight-year-old son Carter has been helping her with “quiet time” so she can finish schoolwork. 

“ A supportive family and friends all around really makes a difference,” she said.

Getting ready to graduate 

Now, Hamilton is just a few classes away from that coveted undergraduate degree; she will complete her capstone course in fall 2025, but will walk this spring. She is especially excited because when she walks across the stage for graduation, she will be doing so around the same time as her daughter, who is graduating high school.

“She does not struggle in school at all,” Hamilton said with a laugh. “She never has. I don’t know where she came from.” 

For any other nontraditional students, Hamilton recommended that they “take it slow.” Start with one class a semester and go from there. Hamilton said she took two classes a semester so she wouldn’t get overwhelmed, and even though it took a little longer, it was worth it.

“Keep pushing through. That’s my biggest thing,” Hamilton said. “You’ll be so proud of yourself at the end when you do that.”

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu