FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Elaine Belcher of Huntsville and Tina Parker of Bentonville are the recipients of the Arkansas Alumni Association’s Non-Traditional Student Leadership Award for 2014. Partnering with Off Campus Connections, the award recognizes non-traditional undergraduate students who must demonstrate excellence in achievement while balancing and engaging in life circumstances and issues. The recipients receive a $500 check and a commemorative clock.

“We are extremely grateful to the Arkansas Alumni Association for helping to make this unique award more distinguished and desired,” said Susan Stiers, associate director of Off Campus Connections. “This partnership is one of the easiest and certainly one of the most enjoyable collaborations our area has ever experienced. We are given the opportunity to work with wonderful people who understand and appreciate the efforts made on the behalf of our non-traditional students.”

Belcher started working on her degree in 2002 as a mother of two teenagers at home and a full-time University of Arkansas employee. Since then, she has faced several obstacles. In 2006, she changed her major to childhood education, putting her behind in the classes she needed for that degree program. She cared for her husband when he suffered a heart attack in 2009, and she continues to care for her aging parents.

Belcher said she spreads herself thin, not to find a new job, but to be better at her current job at the university’s Center for Educational Access. There, she supervises business and personal transactions, coordinates all the service providers, and supervises the front office and the testing center.

She has worked for other departments on campus but said the Center of Educational Access provides the most support and flexibility.

“I can’t do enough for this place,” Belcher said about the center. “They have been so understanding and helpful while I’ve been working on my degree.”

During her sparse free time, Belcher volunteers at the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, helps with student move-in on campus and serves as a member of the Association on Higher Education and Disability.

She said she was surprised but honored to receive the Non-Traditional Student Leadership Award. “I was very excited,” she said. “It was nice to be recognized.”

The co-recipient of the award, Parker dreams of being an investigative reporter.

Parker, who majored in journalism, is the volunteer communications lead for Dress for Success NWA, and she also freelances for The Idle Class Magazine. In addition to school, Parker worked as the station manager for KXUA 88.3 FM radio.

“I like to have my hands in many different pots,” Parker said. “I think variety is important, so that’s why I’m involved with so many different things.”

As she worked on completing her degree as a May 2014 graduate, her day consisted of getting up at 6 a.m. to take herself and her son to school. After her early morning classes, she went straight to work until about 6:30 p.m. After returning home, she cooked dinner, cleaned, played with her son for about 30 minutes and then completed homework for the rest of the evening – all while her husband worked the nightshift. Parker said her husband stepped in without hesitation “to take care of the things I can’t get to or don’t have time to do.”

Sometimes her son would end up going to work or class with her. “He thinks it’s fun, going to school and work with me,” Parker said.

Her dream is to become a feature writer for the New York Times or an investigative journalist. She also wants to open her own business for Arkansas artists to sell their goods.