![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
<\/a>CELEBRATING SUCCESS:<\/strong> During this time when we cannot come together to celebrate our graduates, UToledo is recognizing the Class of 2020 with a series of feature stories on students who received their degrees during our Dec. 6 virtual commencement ceremony<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cKeeping up with my studies and the kids\u2019 schedules, and keeping clean clothes and nutritious food in the fridge was a logistical challenge,\u201d said Frye, 51, who\u2019s been married for 31 years and has two now-grown children, one of whom, Chrissy, has special needs.<\/p>\n \u201cAt one point she was seeing 14 sets of specialists. Even today just keeping up with her medical schedule alone is a job. Yet, I missed only four classes in all the years I have attended courses, and three of those were before I had children.<\/p>\n \u201cThe flexibility of schedules available for UToledo students is one of the reasons that was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Frye\u2019s bachelor\u2019s degree is in education, specifically teaching English, speech and journalism to junior high and high school students. But as she sat in an Individualized Education Program to map out a plan for Chrissy, Frye had a career epiphany. She decided to become a special education teacher.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that time, there was a shortage of special education teachers,\u201d she said, but \u201cUToledo had a program that allowed me to complete my licensure work and start working as an intervention specialist in about a year.<\/p>\n \u201cA few years later, I again returned to UToledo to finish my master\u2019s degree. While I was writing my capstone project, I decided that I really wanted to stay and pursue my Ph.D.\u201d<\/p>\n While Frye\u2019s parents did not go to college, they strongly encouraged her academic pursuits.<\/p>\n Her earning a diploma was particularly important to her father, who \u201cvalued knowledge and education.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was an avid reader and even though he did not go to college, he continued to learn about many subjects all his life,\u201d she said. \u201cHe died soon after I graduated with my bachelor\u2019s degree.\u00a0 I will never forget the proud look on his face when I showed him my diploma. I can\u2019t imagine how happy he would be today, now that I have my Ph.D.\u201d<\/p>\n Frye<\/p><\/div>\n In 2015, though, health challenges with Chrissy, and, in turn, with herself, compounded Frye\u2019s stress level during semester exams, and necessitated important life decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was in the hospital for almost two weeks,\u201d she said. \u201cI slept on the floor of her room for months and did not take very good care of myself.\u201d And while she ultimately did pass the written and oral exams, Frye said that \u201cafter some long conversations with my husband, my advisor, and the chair of our department I decided that I was finished pursing my degree.<\/p>\n \u201cI had enough credits and projects to be able to graduate at that time with an education specialist degree,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Once her daughter fully recovered, two years later, Frye was able to return to UToledo to finish her Ph.D. program.<\/p>\n Dr. Edward Cancio, associate professor in the department of teacher education in the Judith Herb College of Education, said Frye is one of the top doctoral students he has worked with.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has consistently exceeded my expectations in the work she has done for me,\u201d Cancio said. \u201cShe is a hard worker and she will be a lifelong learner.\u201d<\/p>\n Frye, who is teaching as a part-time adjunct faculty at UToledo with plans to work with those in the community with disabilities, said she sees the same passion for learning in Chrissy.<\/p>\n \u201cOne afternoon she was with me on campus, and she walked into two other offices and asked the professors if she could borrow some of their books because she had read all of mine and needed something new to read,\u201d Frye said. \u201cI was so proud. Another life-long learner in the family!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Completing a single degree while raising a family is a difficult task. Cynthia Frye completed three as a mom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":63309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,50,69,53,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63302"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63389,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63302\/revisions\/63389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>