{"id":1674,"date":"2026-05-05T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2026-05-05T15:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:17:31","slug":"returning-stronger-back-marshall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2026\/05\/05\/returning-stronger-back-marshall\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning Stronger"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alexie started her higher education journey at a different institution in 2007, paying for two semesters out of pocket while working a job at a hot dog stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t really have a career path at the time, so it didn’t make sense for me to continue paying such a large amount of money for school,\u201d Alexie said.<\/p>\n

\"Alexie<\/p>\n

Instead, Alexie joined the workforce and started at Rubberlite in Huntington, a flexible material supplier a few blocks from campus. She started working in the production side of the company and transitioned into the office side.<\/p>\n

Alexie has worked several roles within the company and has worked her way up to her current role\u2014customer service manager. She currently has eight employees who directly report to her, and recently returned to Marshall to finish her undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n

Alexie\u2019s inspiration to return to finish her degree came from encouragement by her wife, Hilary, who is a high school counselor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a management position keeps you busy,\u201d Alexie said. \u201cHaving the flexibility with online classes though, has allowed me to keep my job and be able to travel for work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t“I’ve been really well supported at Marshall.”<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Alexie Adkins<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

And Alexie\u2019s putting in the work in her classes. On a typical weekday, she spends about an hour doing classwork before her workday begins. After dinner, she is back studying and completing her assignments.<\/p>\n

The hard work is paying off. Last semester, Alexie made the university\u2019s President\u2019s List, earning a 4.0 semester GPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe balance is there, but you certainly have to work at it, that’s for sure,\u201d Alexie said. \u201cI think things are turning around and certainly feel better. I’ve been really well supported at Marshall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexie is majoring in business management, learning strategies and getting to apply them the same day at work, like executive-level planning concepts from her capstone course.<\/p>\n

\"Alexie<\/p>\n

Since the second grade, Alexie grew up right across the river from Marshall in South Point, Ohio, where she resides to this day. In her limited spare time, Alexie coaches her nephew\u2019s T-ball team, which is much different than her normal work managing employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no systems in place for T-ball, like in business, it\u2019s like herding cats. It\u2019s so fun to watch,\u201d Alexie said.<\/p>\n

The chaos of the T-ball field also reinforced a lesson she learned in going back to school.<\/p>\n

\n\t“The finish line is still there\u2014it\u2019s just maybe a little bit further down the road than what you anticipated.”<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Alexie Adkins<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\u201cOne thing I have learned is having an awareness that just because you set out to do something in a certain way, doesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Alexie said. \u201cThe finish line is still there\u2014it\u2019s just maybe a little bit further down the road than what you anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on Saturday, May 9, Alexie will walk the stage at commencement, a moment 19 years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m the most thankful for the continuity the online platform has allowed me to have in my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For more information on completing your degree at Marshall University, visit www.marshall.edu\/online\/back-to-marshall<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexie started her higher education journey at a different institution in 2007, paying for two semesters out of pocket while working a job at a hot dog stand. \u201cI didn’t really have a career path at the time, so it didn’t make sense for me to continue paying such a large amount of money for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1728,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/1728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}