Part 2 in a series

What’s the secret to working full time, going to school and maintaining a high GPA while raising two children alone?

Lots of coffee, motivation and always having a plan, said Amanda Kroening. Being able to get by on little sleep helps, too.

Kroening has been doing it all since her first child was born. That was 12 years ago. In December, she’ll graduate from Penn State University with a degree in criminal justice. It’s been a long, hard road, but worth it said the Palmerton mother of two girls, Savannah, 12, and Mikailah, 9.

Kroening was only 18 and unmarried when she became pregnant with Savannah. Two years later, Mikailah came along.

“I was enrolled in school after high school, but I never took any classes,” said Kroening.

She worked as a personal care aide, and in 2007 when she was pregnant with Mikailah, she enrolled in Lehigh Carbon Community College’s certified nurse aide program. Once she was certified, she worked as a CNA.

“It was then I realized that CNAs were a dime a dozen. And as a single parent, it wasn’t OK to work holidays, weekends.”

Wanting more for her children and for herself, Kroening started working nights at Blue Mountain Health System so that she could go to school during the day. Her children spent the night with her mother, who lived in Lehighton. In the morning, she would pick them up and take them to day care.

In 2012, she graduated from LCCC with an associate degree in criminal justice.

“I was on the National Honor Society for junior colleges. I maintained a 3.89 GPA, which was huge,” said Kroening.

“I slept whenever I could. Between the two of them (her daughters) and working full time, it made it more enjoyable when I got to the finish line because I knew how hard I worked for it.”

But she wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot.

Kroening took one semester off to spend with her girls, and in the fall of 2012, she began working toward her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Penn State. She’s continued steadily over the past five years, working full time and going to school part time.

Although some of her classes at LCCC were online, she still had to go to campus for labs and classes not available online, and would depend on her parents and friends to watch her daughters.

For her bachelor’s degree, Kroening has been able to take all of her classes online.

“I’m a physical learner. I need to see it. I can do it either way, but this is easier,” said Kroening.

Caring for more than her family

While working toward her bachelor’s degree, Kroening continued working full time. She worked at KidsPeace for two years, and also worked another job where she did medical billing.

She is now employed as the domestic violence advocate for Carbon County.

Her job includes going to court every Friday with domestic violence victims to provide support and document the outcome of protection from abuse orders and indirect criminal contempt actions.

“I support them, explain services,” she said. “I can haggle with attorneys on what is fair if (victims) don’t have an attorney of their own.”

She serves both men and women, and also advocates on behalf of children.

She intends to continue in the position after she graduates.

“I like helping the people in my community. Maybe at some point, I’ll be working for the county.”

As the Carbon County advocate, Kroening also runs support groups for victims at Northeast Counseling in Lehighton and at BMHS Partial Hospital in Bowmanstown. In addition to court, her Fridays also include going to the prison to work with female inmates.

In her support groups and at the prison, Kroening teaches them about healthy relationships, boundaries, coping skills and communication.

Almost there

With the finish line straight ahead, Kroening reflected on the difficulties she’s faced over the past 10 years.

“The hardest part was trying to balance getting my assignments in, helping them with their homework and trying to do housework too. When it’s just you, you have to make sure you plan every single day,” said Kroening.

“You have to improvise. I have two little kids who may need my attention. Many days, I’ll take them to the park so they could play, while I’d be hunched over a book. After they go to bed, I work on my discussion posts. This semester, I have two term papers. They take quite a bit of my time. It’s difficult.”

What helps, she said, is knowing how to manage her time.

“I’m up until 2 a.m., and then I get up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for work. I feed cats their food and water and start coffee. Then I wake Mikailah so she could get her medicine.”

Once the girls are ready to go, Kroening takes them to the day care, and waits with them until they get on the school bus.

“I get to work by 8 a.m. and I’m done at 4 p.m. Dinner is usually made in the crockpot. While they eat, I look in their backpacks to see what their homework is. Theirs always comes first. Then they go to cheerleading practice. When we get back home, they finish their homework if they didn’t finish it earlier. Then they can watch an hour of TV before bed.”

While the girls watch television, Kroening will bring out her laptop and start working on her discussion posts for class.

“This way I’m still in the room with them. They go to bed at 8:30.”

Once the girls are in for the night, Kroening begins her schoolwork, which includes a lot of reading; about 40 pages a night, she says.

“What takes most time with schoolwork is trying to get all the reading done,” she said. “I try to go to bed by 11 p.m., but if I have a lot of assignments, it can be 1 or 2 a.m.

That’s where all that coffee comes in.

Also keeping her busy is that her girls are pretty active.

Mikailah is on the swim team in the summer. She also does Girl Scouts, chorus and band, and cheerleading. Savannah is also involved in cheerleading.

And while it’s a tough road to navigate as a single mother, it’s possible, Kroening said.

“I always tell other women, ‘If I can do it, anybody can do it. You have to have the motivation.’ I’ve been doing it for 12 years. You have to want more for yourself.

“When I only had a high school education, I was going by the seat of my pants. A year ago in August, I finally landed a job with sick days, vacation days, personal days, and I’m not working on holidays or weekends.”

Kroening said her mother would always tell her, “If you don’t try, you’ll never know.” So she tried.

“You do what you have to do. That’s it. I want more for myself and more for my kids. It’s like a fact. You just have to do it.”

Kroening said there is nothing about her that’s special that gave her an advantage to be able to accomplish what she has.

She’s already reaping the benefits, and has gone from food stamps and housing assistance to homeownership.

“I was so excited to be able to buy my own house in August,” Kroening said.