Area mom will graduate from Penn State Fayette on May 17
This will be a special Mother’s Day for Julie Kotyuha.
The Jefferson wife and mother of four is looking forward to graduating from Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus on May 17 and being able to provide more opportunities for her family. “We are moving forward to a better life,’ said Kotyuha, 30, who is earning an associate’s degree in nursing and will begin a job as a nurse at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown on June 2.
Kotyuha has struggled through adversity in recent years that included family health problems and low income. But during an interview just before a final exam at Penn State this week, she shows that she remains a warm, friendly person with a good outlook on life.
A native of Scottdale, Westmoreland County, Kotyuha graduated from Southmoreland High School in 1995. She was working at Burn’s Drug Store in Mount Pleasant when she met her husband, Greg, 52, a Uniontown native who delivered newspapers, magazines and paperback books to area stores.
The couple, who moved to Jefferson eight years ago, has four children: Diana, 10, Damian, 7, Ian, 4, and Arianne, 2. The older two children attend Carmichaels Area Elementary School. The younger two have health problems. Ian is autistic and undergoing an early intervention program. He will start kindergarten in a special program in the fall. Arianne has hemihypertrophy, a disease in which one side of her body grows more rapidly than the other. This disease predisposes her to scoliosis and tumors on her kidneys. She is monitored by ultrasound every three or four months and currently, one side has caught up with the other.
Kotyuha started the nursing program at Penn State Fayette in August 2004. Her interest grew from her own experiences with nurses as a patient when she delivered her children.
“I always thought they were awesome – so intelligent, so smart, so caring,’ Kotyuha said.
She began the program by taking night classes while her husband continued working days.
His position had no benefits or job security and included a strenuous 16-hour shift once a week when he traveled to Altoona to pick up national newspapers and then delivered them to local stores.
When he began growing tired, the couple thought it was the stress of his job.
“In December 2006, he was chopping wood and he said he was so out of breath, he couldn’t do the job,’ Kotyuha remembered. “I told him to go to the doctor. We had no insurance. They thought he might have bronchitis but it didn’t go away.’
When his health continued to deteriorate, the doctor did more tests and discovered Greg Kotyuha had heart problems that included 98 percent blockage of several coronary arteries. He had open-heart surgery in June 2007.
“He couldn’t go back to work and it got to the point that my school work was so demanding,’ said Kotyuha. “That was the toughest decision we had to make as a family. We decided to continue with my education while he stayed home with the kids. The only income we have is SSI and some public assistance. It helps us make it.’
Although their economic situation became more difficult, Kotyuha found a positive note in that she was so impressed by the nurses who took care of her husband that she would someday like to work with heart patients.
“That’s so awesome to be able to do so much for somebody. They mean so much to them. I could do that every day of my life and not get tired of it,’ she said.
Despite all these challenges, Kotyuha has excelled in her studies at Penn State.
She maintains an A average, is a member of the campus honor society and has been on the dean’s list six out of eight semesters.
She even took classes during the pregnancy of her last child in order to maintain her financial aid. She had the baby on a Wednesday and returned to class the next Monday.
“I asked the professor if I could leave early after taking a political science test because I was being induced in the morning,’ said Kotyuha with a smile.
The circumstances were not easy.
“It was so hard,’ said Kotyuha. “I’ve even taken her to class. Thank God I had such wonderful professors.’
Kotyuha’s drive to continue her education has earned her the admiration of her fellow students and she also received a local and a regional award from Soroptimist International, an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls in the community and around the world.
Soroptimist International of Fayette County presented Kotyuha with the Women’s Opportunity Award.
According to a press release from the organization, the Women’s Opportunity Award “aids women seeking to improve their economic status by gaining additional skills, training and education. The program helps women who, as the primary wage earners for their families, must improve their employment status by entering or returning to the work force.
“On March 26, the local chapter of Soroptimist International awarded Julie $1,000. On April 12 at the North Atlantic Region Spring Conference of Soroptimist International, Julie was awarded $3,000 to help further her career goals. The award was presented at the Saturday night dinner at the Penn Stater in State College, Pa.’
“When I won the local, I was excited,’ said Kotyuha. “When I won the regional, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh!”
While her husband would like to return to work, he is still at home while Kotyuha prepares to start her new job.
“We’re not going to be rich as a nurse but we’ll have a better life,’ she said, adding, “I don’t want to be rich. I just want to be comfortable and not struggle, have a decent income with a steady check.’
Kotyuha also plans to return to Penn State in the fall to work towards a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
She also has plans to earn a master’s degree and further her education as much as she can.
“This is what I’m supposed to be doing,’ Kotyuha said of nursing. “…I think if I didn’t make any money as a nurse, I’d still want to do it. This money is a bonus. It will make a huge difference in everybody’s future. I can send my kids to college. I’ll always be able to take care of Ian.’
But this Mother’s Day, Kotyuha plans to relax with her family.
She may be taking them to Chuck E. Cheese, making good on a long-time promise as to how they will spend time when she finished her classes.
Said Kotyuha, “My kids are excited that I can spend it with them and not spend it with books.’