July 23, 2002

Contact: Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853.

Summer term ends 725-mile weekly commute for 2 Garden City students

LAWRENCE -- For two students from Garden City who have spent two years making a weekly 725-mile round-trip commute to the University of Kansas to complete master's degrees, the end of the summer term on July 31 will be cause for celebration.

Knowing they were just a few credit hours from finishing a master's degree, Robin Unruh and Stacey Brendmoen participated in the May commencement ceremonies at KU, as do many students planning to graduate in the summer term.

Brendmoen's and Unruh's families, co-workers and professors know another celebration comes in a few weeks when the master's degree graduates complete the state licensure exam and fulfill their goals.

With master's degrees, they can become licensed social workers -- currently in short supply throughout western Kansas. Clay Finck, of St. Francis Academy Inc., where Unruh and Brendmoen are employed, said the need is greatest in southwest Kansas. St. Francis has a national office in Salina but serves children in seven states, including Kansas.

The academy has 10 offices in western Kansas with 11 vacant positions, four of which are in the Garden City area.

"We have struggled to find master's degree applicants for supervisory as well as for case manager positions in western Kansas," Finck said.

Finck, who supervises the area offices in Garden City and in Hays, said that two staff members in Dodge City and one in Liberal are finishing bachelor's degrees in social work at Fort Hays State University.

"Stacey and Robin had the longest commute, however," Finck said. "At first we told them to count the weeks. Then we thought they should count the miles. I think it's a great accomplishment. I know in a couple of weeks there will be a real celebration."

Despite long hours on the road and preparing for classes, "it was a win-win situation for St. Francis and for us," Unruh said.

With the master's degree Brendmoen, now interim supervisor of the Garden City office, becomes eligible for supervisor. Unruh will be eligible for a promotion as a clinical therapist.

With support from their co-workers and their families, the juggling of responsibilities at work that include court appearances, at home and in the classroom, would have been impossible, they said. "Everyone has been extremely supportive: our boss, co-workers and our families. St. Francis allowed us time to attend classes," Brendmoen said.

Unruh said she had contemplated working on a master's degree since finishing a bachelor's degree at St. Mary's of the Plains College in Dodge City. Yet at times the drive and the distance from campus resources and from job responsibilities made her goal seem impossible.

"My family had more faith in me and the process than I did sometimes," Unruh said. She is the daughter of Eugene and Elizabeth Unruh, Deerfield, and has two sisters, Cindy in Topeka and Nancy in Garden City.

For Brendmoen, her husband, Todd, was a major source of support. "He took on household duties, doing the laundry and the transporting of our daughter (Alexandra), making it possible for me not only to be on the road but to write papers and finish reading assignments," Brendmoen said. "I don't think we anticipated how much time with families and with our jobs would be sacrificed just to driving time."

Unruh and Brendmoen timed their trips to arrive in Lawrence to be in classes 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. They then drove to Topeka to stay the night with Robin's sister, Cindy Unruh, a nurse.

In two years, they experienced only one major road problem. This spring near Larned, a large buck deer hit the passenger side of Brendmoen's car, smashing the window, yet was able to leap over the car.

"It could have been much worse. I was glad the car wasn't totaled and the deer killed," Brendmoen said. The deer continued his run across the highway after jumping over the car. "I put a jacket over the window and Robin moved to the back seat for the rest of the trip home (about 100 miles)."

Unruh and Brendmoen haven't scheduled the licensure exam but hope to take it in Topeka so they can toast Cindy Unruh for opening her home to them each week for the past two years.