{"id":1916,"date":"2021-12-22T21:32:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T21:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2021-12-22T23:02:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T23:02:22","slug":"just-like-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/just-like-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Like Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Damien
Damien Tracy and family at home<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His oldest daughter is six, and this week she\u2019s dreaming of growing up to be an astronaut, a mommy and a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t take anything off the list\u2014she just keeps adding,\u201d said Damien Tracy, \u201921.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracy transferred to EOU and completed his psychology degree entirely online while working two full-time jobs and being a dad to four kids. Caring for others has been a theme in his life and career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He works for Caption Call, a relay service for people who are deaf or hearing-impaired. Before that, though, he was accustomed to assisting and communicating with people who have disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy whole life and culture is the community of the disabled,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth my dad and sister are intellectually disabled, and I\u2019ve grown up around people who are disabled so my heart is set in that. It\u2019s been my life passion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After five years working as a mentor and supervisor, his bachelor\u2019s degree gave Tracy the boost he needed to obtain a management position. He went from overseeing 20 employees to joining four colleagues to supervise 500 staff members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was offered the position a month after graduation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe position is all about communication and enhancing performance. Having a degree helped on paper, but I also use it on tasks with the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His new role required a move from Caldwell, Idaho, to San Antonio this summer. Before hitting the road, the Tracy family visited campus for the second time ever. They had come for a tour before he transferred to EOU, and the welcome affirmed his choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI toured EOU even though I was going to be a fully online student,\u201d he said. \u201cIt felt personal, and the advisor was very interested in me and excited for me to come. Everybody was very patient with my kids and so hospitable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It felt personal, and the advisor was very interested in me and excited for me to come”<\/p>– Damien Tracy<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When they returned, it was for graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy favorite memory was walking across the stage and watching my kids being all excited,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cBeing greeted by psych faculty, and getting to see my favorite professors in-person after being online the whole time was also great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracy was one of the last graduates to walk across the stage, but he said the atmosphere stayed fresh and exciting all day. The occasion capped a challenging educational career of juggling responsibilities at home, at work and in the classroom. Tracy said his professors kept him engaged in learning by sending personalized videos for statistics classes to answer his questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he completed his final assignments and took his last tests, Tracy\u2019s kids were counting down alongside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were excited that I\u2019d have more play time,\u201d he said. Now with a new job and settling into their new home, Tracy tells his oldest daughter that she can do anything\u2014just like him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After five years working as a mentor and supervisor, his bachelor\u2019s degree gave Damien Tracy the boost he needed to obtain a management position. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":491,"featured_media":1922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,119],"tags":[23,142,45,30],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","category-fall-2021","tag-alumni","tag-psychology","tag-student","tag-transfer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}