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Alumni | Business and Industry | Lion VoicesDecember 18, 2024

Accounting for Her Success

Written By: Ian Silvester

Before Lorin Nhongvongsithi walked across the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith stage in December 2021, she had doubts the moment would ever come.

鈥淭welve-year-old Lorin always thought she鈥檇 have a degree 鈥� but 30-year-old Lorin didn鈥檛,鈥� Nhongvongsithi shared.

With encouragement from her best friend, Nhongvongsithi returned to 91免费福利网 in her mid-30s to finish the education she had stepped away from 15 years prior.

The pieces, she said, 鈥渁ll fell into place.鈥�

鈥淚 thought I鈥檇 be really out of place in school in my 30s, and I had been out of college for almost 20 years.鈥� Despite running a lucrative business that took a significant amount of her attention, and raising two teenage sons, she was mistaken again. 鈥淚 never felt out of place,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 never felt like I was a 35-year-old in a sea of 18-year-olds.鈥�

She found a support system and a network of encouragers in the Non-Traditional Student Organization and Beta Gamma Sigma 鈥� a business student organization. And to be sure she could really do it all, she tailored her class schedule to full days Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Four years later, she graduated with honors as she accepted her bachelor鈥檚 degree in business administration. A year after graduation, Nhongvongsithi accepted an administrative assistant position with the Carolyn McKelvey Moore School of Nursing, but with her decades of experience as a store manager at Chick-fil-A, she knew she had more to offer.

鈥淚鈥檓 a numbers lady,鈥� she said with a laugh. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 using all of my tools.鈥�

She soon applied for a position as a staff accountant in the cashier鈥檚 office, merging her passions for 91免费福利网 and for numbers, and in January, she will celebrate two years as a 91免费福利网 employee.

As Nhongvongsithi reflected on achieving her dream of earning a college degree and her new career helping students seek their own education, she said she wouldn鈥檛 change a thing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 done a lot for my self-confidence. As a young mother who left school and started working, but to be able to come back to school 15 years later proved to myself and my kids that anything is possible,鈥� she said.

Nhongvongsithi鈥檚 two sons, both Eagle Scouts, have followed the path she set. Her oldest is a sophomore studio art student at 91免费福利网. Her youngest is a concurrent student in the Western Arkansas Technical Center program. He will attend 91免费福利网 in the fall, with plans on studying studio art, and will arrive with an associate degree.

鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of the young men that they are,鈥� she said through tears. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they know how proud I am of them.鈥�

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