Beginning on opposite sides of the globe, Nauni Krasko and Tatiana McDaniel both followed their educational journeys to Ohio University's Eastern campus in St. Clairsville, where they are currently students.  McDaniel began her college education in Russia while Krasko says she “stumbled into college” after spending years thinking she wasn't smart enough for higher education. Their stories highlight the importance of Ohio University's regional campus mission of providing access to higher education for all students.

McDaniel, who works at WesBanco, hopes to use her degree to advance her career.  Krasko, meanwhile, is using her education to open new areas of interest and figure out what her career may be. 

“Go [to college] -- even if you don’t know what you want to do for a career,” Krasko advises others after having gained self-confidence from doing just that.

Krasko dropped out of high school during the second half of her sophomore year, returning later to begin her junior year “with a new fervor.”  After completing high school, she took a seven-year break from education -- carrying with her the self-impression that she wasn’t college material.  

Life brought Krasko to the St. Clairsville area and employment brought her to the Eastern Campus, where she worked for a business providing services to the university.  She said she got to know several of the students, staff, and professors during the job. Many of them encouraged her to take classes and with the help of financial aid, she decided to give it a try despite her doubts. 

“I never knew my grade point average in high school,” Krasko said. “I just recently found out I was 56^th in my class of over 200.” 

Early in her college studies, Krasko, who works at Waldenbooks, was thinking about majoring in English. After attending job fairs, she couldn’t see herself doing the jobs most often available for English majors, so she decided to choose a different major. 

While she’s not positive what that major will be, she credits the degree plan she made in one of her classes during her first quarter for helping her explore options and teaching her how to choose classes wisely to fit requirements for various majors.

By taking some general education requirements, she discovered Charlie Smith’s medieval history classes. Although she never liked history classes in high school, Krasko discovered in college that she liked studying various ancient cultures and doing research. Because of this discovery, she may major in anthropology -- a field she didn’t even know existed a few months ago. 

As a result of her experience, Krasko also suggests that new students attend job fairs early in their college career to see what job options are out there for the major they are thinking about pursuing.

“Counselors can’t read your mind,” Krasko said, and recommends that students take aptitude tests and do some self-guided research as well. 

Unlike Krasko, McDaniel always knew a college education would be part of her future. 

McDaniel was studying linguistics and translation theory at Kuban State University in Russia when she came to the United States for a summer job in Virginia.  That summer was extended when she met her future husband, and they moved to the Ohio Valley. 

She transferred to Ohio University Eastern campus, changed her major to business, and has successfully continued her education, with plans to graduate in June. Last spring, McDaniel was recognized for having the highest grade point average in business on the regional campuses, receiving the Regional Campus Outstanding Student Award from the Ohio University College of Business. 

While McDaniel grew up with parents that had gone to college -- her father is a retired prosecutor and her mother a translator -- she says college is very different in Russia. 

“The number of choices students have here was overwhelming in the beginning,” she said. “In Russia, students start classes at 8 a.m. and go throughout the day. Most students don’t work while they go to school.” On the Eastern campus, students can choose from a variety of classes and schedules, including evening classes or day classes or a mixture of both and the majority of students work while going to school. 

The study of business and management also have very different perspectives here, according to McDaniel. In her classes, content includes topics like empowering people, delegating, and how important customer service is. That is not the approach management classes at her former university would have taken, she said. 

She was also surprised that professors in the United States are so often available for interaction.

“Many professors put their e-mail and even their cell phone numbers right on the syllabus and encourage students to use them.”