If Not Me, Then Who?
Sara Pitchford never intended to go back to school.
After leaving a successful career in construction project management, she chose to become a stay-at-home mother to her two young daughters. It was the right decision, but it also left her wondering what life would look like when the season of full-time caregiving eventually changed.
Then came a night she has never forgotten.
One of her daughters struggled with sleep, and Sara spent countless nights searching for answers. Both of her daughters needed trauma-informed mental health care, yet every phone call led to the same frustrating conversation. Providers described themselves as "trauma-informed," but few had the expertise her family desperately needed. Those who did often had months-long waiting lists or weren't accessible through insurance.
Holding her daughter in the middle of the night, exhaustion gave way to clarity.
"If this is this hard for me, what does this look like for families with fewer resources?"
Then another question followed.
"If the system isn't working, who is going to fix it?"
That night, Sara stopped waiting for someone else.
She opened her laptop, completed an application for Michigan Reconnect, and two weeks later found herself sitting in a college classroom.
Returning to school while raising two young children required constant creativity. She studied during nap times, attended evening classes, pieced together childcare, and relied on community programs that helped with books, daycare, and even replacing a broken computer when continuing her education seemed uncertain.
Along the way, she discovered something unexpected.
She fell in love with learning.
More importantly, she found professors who challenged her assumptions and expanded her understanding of the communities she hoped to serve. Their mentorship inspired her to transfer to Madonna University, where she completed both her Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work.
Today, Sara is a clinical therapist specializing in perinatal mental health, partnering with community organizations to support parents during pregnancy and postpartum, particularly those from historically underserved communities.
Looking back, she realizes education gave her more than credentials.
"I knew my value long before I had a degree."
The degree became the bridge that opened doors to the work she already knew she was called to do.
As a first-generation college graduate who grew up relying on public assistance programs, Sara understands both sides of the helping relationship. She knows what it means to need support, and she believes that experience makes her a stronger clinician.
Her story reminds us that education is sometimes born from frustration—but it flourishes through purpose. When one parent decides to stop asking who will solve the problem and instead asks, "If not me, then who?" lives far beyond their own begin to change.
Sara Pitchford is one of fifty adult learners featured in Beyond the Degree: Stories of Adult Learner Comebacks and What They Teach Us. Read her complete story in her own words, and discover what these remarkable comebacks teach us, in the book from the Center for Academic Innovation.