MaryBeth Clare gains confidence and an online degree

Growing up in Mountain Home, Idaho, MaryBeth Clare had always dreamed of attending Boise State. After a 20-year break after high school, she made her dream a reality.

“I have lived in Idaho since I was 12. I was very excited about Boise State,” Clare said. “I love the color orange … I know it’s a simple thing, but for a 12-year-old, seeing a college with her favorite color and a girl who loves school, I was just like, ‘I want to go there.’

“After I graduated high school in 2001, I had to take a break due to some physical health issues that I had. And then 20 years later, I finally was able to enroll at Boise State.”

Clare was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder and began experiencing vision loss later in life.

Flexible programs for a busy schedule

Clare works at Envision as a blind and visually impaired (BVI) advocacy and training coordinator.

“My job is to work with all of the cashiers and stockers,” Clare said. “I help them learn how to make their stores more accessible, how to advocate for themselves while they’re at work with different needs that they might have.”

Clare’s work also allows her to be involved in advocacy work, and she travels from Idaho to Washington D.C. three to four times a year. Her advocacy work focuses on demonstrating to senators and representatives how blind and visually impaired individuals can work, and how much they want to work, as nearly 70% are not employed.

“I plan on always continuing my advocacy work,” Clare said. “You can be an advocate in any job that you are in. Advocacy is just simply standing up for yourself and standing up for what is right.”

With a busy schedule, Clare needed a program that offered flexibility.

“One of the benefits of doing the online program was that I was able to do the assignments at my own pace, so long as I was able to get them turned in by the due dates,” Clare shared. “So at night, when I would come home from work, I would be able to work on whatever assignments I had.

“You can do it when it’s convenient for you, which sometimes could be, you know, 10 at night or one in the morning, depending on what your work schedule is and what your life schedule is. Being able to do that and have that freedom and flexibility makes it to where you can get the education that you want in the time that you want to be able to get it in and do it in your way.

“I highly recommend doing online because you can make it adjust to your lifestyle so you don’t have to be in your classroom at a specific time and date to hear the lecture, or to be there to talk to your professor online. It gives you a lot of control. It’s like you are in the driver’s seat, and it just makes life so much more interesting.”

Entrepreneurial dreams

“I chose the business management program online so that I can open up my own business,” Clare said. “And I chose to do the entrepreneurship track, which helps us learn how we can be good business owners.”

In choosing the right program, Clare found a lot of support.

“When I first decided to go to Boise State, I sat down with my VR [vocational rehabilitation] counselor at the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and discussed the different degrees that I should do,” Clare said. “She gave me the contact information of a student advisor over at Boise State. I spoke with him for quite a while, and he was the one who showed me about the entrepreneurship track that I could do.

“Given what I want to do with a publishing house and to be a writer, that seemed to be the good fit and niche for me. It was very exciting to know that after four years, I’m going to be able to fulfill that dream of having the knowledge and accreditation I need to be able to start my own business, in the right ways.”

Once in the program, Clare received support from the Educational Access Center, including director Allison Gonzalez and assistant director Natalie Davison.

“I worked very closely with Natalie and Allison, who provided me with three amazing assistants who acted as my eyes in classes,” Clare said. “It made it so much easier to know that I had somebody … with eyesight who could help me with those things. Because you never know until you get into the classroom what different things you’re going to experience and what exactly your needs are.”

Design thinking and real-world application

“One of my most memorable parts of the BBA program was in the Design Thinking class. I didn’t know what to think about this class when I signed up for it. It just sounded interesting,” Clare said. “But it was all about how, when you walk into a store, you walk in the shoes of your customer. You try to feel what they’re going to feel when they look at a display.”

Clare was able to immediately apply what she learned in the Design Thinking class to her work and ultimately increase revenue.

“That was a really good experience,” Clare said. “I was very quick to be able to apply what I was learning and put it into action at my store.”

In addition to the applicability of her classes, Clare was able to make a plan for her own business through the program.

“The most useful skills that I gained through the BBA program really lie in the entrepreneurship track because that one was showing me how I can incorporate marketing with advertising, coming up with a business plan,” Clare shared.

“My main goal was to become a writer and a publisher. I didn’t really have any thoughts outside of that. Now, after graduating, I actually have my business plan written. I have looked into who my competitors are, both with coffee houses, local business stores and other publishers. And it’s very interesting because now … I can go forward and I can bring this business plan to a bank.

“I feel very prepared for this. It gave me everything I needed and more.”

Growing confidence through the program

Not only did Clare leave the online management program with a degree, but she also left with the confidence of a job well done.

“I can’t believe I’m a Boise State grad right now. I will look back on my journey through Boise State as a time of immense growth,” Clare said. “When I started at Boise State, I was still a little unsure of myself.

“In some ways, I was unsure of my voice. I was unsure if the business degree was going to be the right one. I went in with a lot of questions, and I was seeking answers, and throughout my time at Boise State, I have grown exponentially. It has been a time of great joy. There have been some tears shed, and there has also been a lot of learning how I can be proud of myself for everything that I’ve done.”

After her success in the program, Clare would strongly recommend the program to others looking to pursue management or entrepreneurship.

“The BBA program is an excellent program,” said Clare. “It offers you such a large platter of different knowledge-based classes and expert experience classes that will give you what you need for whatever work field you go into. It is one of the best programs I think, that a person can do.”

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Learn more about the business administration program

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