WGU Alumni Podcast
WGU’s alumni network now has more than 350,000 graduates living in all 50 states. The WGU alumni podcast highlights the incredible work that our alumni are doing in their local communities. We also share benefits, perks, resources and partner information to help our graduates stay engaged and get the most out of the alumni community.
WGU Alumni Podcast
From Military Service to Community Leadership: Distinguished Graduate Roxanne Thalman's journey
What does it mean to truly embrace the mantra "Never Too Late"? Hear the inspiring journey of Roxanne Thalman, a change maker, US Air Force veteran, former elected official, and proud WGU alumna.
A standout WGU distinguished graduate, Roxanne leads in the workforce as well as within the community, where she's the director and long time volunteer of the largest 4th of July Parade in Texas.
On this episode of the WGU Alumni Podcast, you'll learn about her transformative work in change management and community service as well as her embodying the essence of pursuing dreams at any stage of life.
Have you ever thought it's too late for me? Well, it turns out you have more time than you think. We're living longer, doing more and collecting more moments. On this new season of the WGU Alumni Podcast, we're sharing the inspiring stories of our distinguished graduates who went back to school to pursue a degree and better their lives. We hope their stories will inspire you to realize it's never too late to go after your dreams. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the WGU Alumni Podcast. It's Jeff and Robert, back with you.
Speaker 2:Robert hello. Hey, jeff, it is great to be back here back home after we were just in Fort Worth again.
Speaker 1:Yeah we had a great time in Fort Worth, texas. It really is a fantastic part of the country, loved being there and what I loved I mean here.
Speaker 2:Everyone's listening and, just like most of the WGU, experiences via technology, but commencement's a time where we get together in person. We had over 2,000 graduates and their families together in Fort Worth. That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:It was great. We were out at Dickey's Arena. That was fantastic to see those 2,000 folks walk across the stage. And the night before we had an alumni celebration out at the zoo. That was kind of cool, kind of a great experience and one of the things that we're going to highlight today because we've got a great interview another great interview with one of our graduates. We were able to celebrate Roxanne Thalman at the WGU alumni impact dinner and really recognize her as a distinguished graduate for all the fantastic community service and professional work that she has done in that area.
Speaker 2:And just another great way to be again in person, instead of just over technology, but recognizing Roxanne in person, getting to know her one-on-one and see her impact on that community. Because Roxanne isn't just an amazing graduate for what she did at WGU, but both in the workplace, her involvement in change management, and then what she does for her community and a lot. I mean the biggest parade in all of Texas. She volunteers and it doesn't just volunteer. She's over that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she oversees that, she leads it, and so and what a great example, right, because that's what we talk about here is. It's never too late to make that difference, to go back and get that degree and to be the change in the world that you want to see. And Roxanne's exactly that kind of person. She helps businesses and their change just like WGU helps their graduates and their change and then she's so involved at the community level as well, so that her impact goes far beyond her degree.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. We love also highlighting she's a veteran with the US Air Force, which is always great. We have a lot of graduates and family members that come through the military ranks, and so it's obviously great to celebrate her and recognize her for that background as well. But just what a fantastic person like just very soft spoken but, like you said, having a huge impact in the community and across the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and before we get to hear from Roxanne, because I want like this is a great interview and she's such a great person I also want to remind everybody, like we'd love to see you in person if you've never walked before, so even if you graduated 10 years ago but you've never walked, you are welcome to join us at commencement and walk for your first time.
Speaker 1:Every degree you get, you are invited to walk across the stage, celebrate that with your friends and family and, hey, maybe we'll get a chance to interview you in person. That would be fantastic and, I guess, a reminder to all of those listening to your point, Robert go to the website wguedu slash alumni and you'll be able to find our commencement dates for 2025. We'd love to celebrate with you and recognize you for your accomplishments.
Speaker 2:And it's just so fun to get together just like we got to get together with Roxanne in person, celebrate her, have her on stage with people from the community, people from our partners, people from the school and we want to have you there too. But I'm excited to get to hear from Roxanne today, so I think we should get to that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Let's roll to that tape now. Roxanne is a 2023 MBA grad from WGU and is a global leader in the field of change management. As a ProSci certified change practitioner, roxanne leads transformation initiatives for multinational organizations and helps them reduce resistance while maximizing adoption of new systems and processes. She is a two-time ATD Access Award winner, an Air Force veteran, a former elected official and a non-profit leader. In September 2024, she was named as a Distinguished Graduate of WGU. Welcome to the WGU Alumni Podcast, roxanne. How are you?
Speaker 3:Wonderful Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. We're thrilled to connect and to celebrate you. This is a big deal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm very excited.
Speaker 1:Well, awesome. Have you ever been on a podcast before?
Speaker 3:No, this is my first time.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, you sound great and I think our audience is excited to learn a little bit more about your journey. I love the brief bio. There's a lot to get to and we're going to kind of get into that here today. But remind me where you are from. Where are you taking this call right now?
Speaker 3:I'm at the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area in North Texas.
Speaker 1:Excellent and, as a national university with students and graduates spread throughout the country, we always like to ask what's the best thing about your hometown, so Dallas-Fort Worth? There's people that have healthy opinions of this area as one of the greatest places in the world, so I'm curious what makes it the best for you? Why do you call it home?
Speaker 3:You know we do have an unreasonable amount of Texas pride. I can't explain it, but we do. My favorite thing is all of my family is here. We all live within about 15 to 20 minutes of each other, so that's my favorite thing. But also, you know we all enjoy the arts. You know, live theater, live music galleries, and we just have a ton of that here.
Speaker 1:So I love that. I love it. Now I got to ask you know a controversial question Do you like Dallas or Fort Worth? Better, which is better?
Speaker 3:You know I'm definitely more on the Fort Worth side.
Speaker 1:Are you Okay?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I live closer to Dallas, so I think I go to more events in Dallas, but I enjoy Fort Worth more.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, we're coming to a commencement. Out in Fort Worth We've got a really strong presence in Texas. There are a lot of NIDALs specifically in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Sometimes when I'm wearing my WGU t-shirts or hoodies out, a lot of people will stop me and say, hey, I'm a fellow NIDAL or are you a current student or alumni? So I bump into quite a few.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Well, way to represent.
Speaker 3:Well, bring your boots when you come.
Speaker 1:I definitely will. I definitely will. Okay, so I want to start out and just ask what's the most exciting thing that you're working on, Roxanne, right now?
Speaker 3:Right now I am working on the change management for digital transformation within manufacturing, so helping manufacturing employees embrace digital technologies to really streamline their processes and free up their time to do things that only humans can do and leave kind of more tedious tasks to machines and technology. So it's really, really exciting.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. Yeah, that sounds exciting. Now, how long have you been involved in change management? Because that is quite an important piece of business, for sure.
Speaker 3:So in change management specifically about eight years. But change management, the field kind of evolves. So I kind of started with communications and training and before that even marketing and all of those things kind of build together and you work with stakeholders in marketing and all of those things kind of build together and you work with stakeholders, engagement and all of those pieces fit together to help bring about change and adoption. So as the company I used to work for decided to formalize their change management practice, I was brought in to help kind of build that capability within the company. So I got to kind of build my knowledge of change management specifically kind of with that background and kind of from the ground up with the company Gotcha.
Speaker 1:Now, do you work from home typically, or are you in office?
Speaker 3:I am one of the lucky ones I'm fully remote, so I work with people all over the US, Canada, Mexico and beyond globally, but I work right here from Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 1:Oh, very nice. Well, very good. Well, as I mentioned, you were recently named as one of only 14 distinguished graduate awardees at WGU. Congratulations. Tell me what this recognition means to you.
Speaker 3:You know, I'll tell you, I was shocked to know that I was receiving the award, know that I was receiving the award and for me it's hard to put into words. To me it really is kind of a recognition of a lot of the work that I've done, not just in my career and education but also in the community, a recognition of a lot of the sacrifices that I've made, and I just feel like an overwhelming sense of pride as a NIDAL, to you know, be recognized in this way.
Speaker 1:Well, that's awesome and you definitely should have that pride. You're busy with your day job and the change management things that you're doing, but, as you mentioned, within the community, tell us a little bit about that, because you sit on multiple boards. You're active with one of the largest parades in the country, one of the most successful parades. Tell us a little bit, just kind of high level. Tell us about what you're involved with with the community.
Speaker 3:So right now the bulk of my time goes into these actually two different parades now. So one is the Arlington 4th of July Parade. It's the biggest Independence Day parade in Texas. It's actually voted the best parade in Texas by the Texas Festival and Events Association and it's one of the top five or so in the United States. So that's a year-round planning effort. It draws a huge crowd about 50,000 people and it's an all-volunteer-run organization, so it's about 20 people who produce this just massive event.
Speaker 1:Massive thing.
Speaker 3:So at the beginning of this year the mayor of the city of Arlington, which is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth, came to our current president of the Arlington Independence Day Parade and said hey, we want to put Kevin, kevin, myself and several other veteran leaders um got together and we are putting together the inaugural Texas Veterans Day parade um, which is going to just pull together you know, all these veteran leaders, veteran groups, advocacy groups um ROTC units from across the state, high school bands, horse units, we will have Medal of Honor recipients, we're going to have a military induction ceremony, so it's going to be just a great event coming up here in November. So a lot of my time is dedicated to that. I'm also a leader in my church youth organization. I do some work with Challenge of Tarrant County. That's a drug and alcohol abuse prevention organization that works with college students across the area.
Speaker 1:Wow, a lot of tremendous work that you're doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it's all enjoyable. So I feel like I get done with my day job and I get to kind of, you know, relax through that type of service and and connecting with people and do something enjoyable.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Now, the biggest Texas in the, or the biggest parade, excuse me, in the state of Texas. That's a big deal, right, that's a huge deal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it really is. And you know it's so wild because I grew up in Arlington and Arlington is just a great place to live. But growing up there I had no idea that there was a 4th of July parade. I just I don't know. We never went and never heard about it.
Speaker 3:And then one day, you know, I moved away from military service and some other things and I moved back and a friend from church said hey, you know, would you mind helping this, this nonprofit, right, if you press releases? And I was like, yeah, sure, why not? And I went and it was this parade organization. And, um, you know, at the end of the meeting I was like, hey, yeah, I came to help write some press releases. Do you guys still need help with this? And they're like, yeah, but we don't have time to talk today. Can you come next month? And I was like, sure, the next month. It was the same thing we don't have time to talk today, can you come next month? And I was like sure. And then, at the end of the third meeting, I was like, you know, I have some ideas of how you guys could improve this thing. And so that's kind of.
Speaker 3:Here we are 15 years later and I've been the president and now director and you know it's it's grown quite a bit over the years but it's still, you know, has a hometown feel and it's great, a great event.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, you show up and you're like I've got some ideas and they're like you're hired, we can't pay you anything but make it better. Well, and certainly I think your your change management background and you know communications change management, your organization has, I'm sure, been key for the success of the parade.
Speaker 3:I think so. I think you know a lot of the leadership skills that I've been able to develop, you know, just throughout adulthood, have come through community service and being able to step up and lead outside of work. So that has really like helped me to develop in my career as well.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome.
Speaker 3:I've definitely gained a lot through that type of service.
Speaker 1:Now Arlington, that home of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys, correct? Am I thinking the right city in Texas?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:All right. So do you ever get you know Nolan Ryan or Jerry Jones Dak Prescott? These guys ever come and join the parade.
Speaker 3:You know, we have we've had some Texas Rangers this year. We had Ferguson Jenkins as our grand marshal.
Speaker 4:Okay, I don't know.
Speaker 3:This year we had the World Series trophy in the parade, which was a great hit. All of the fans loved it. That's awesome. That was really special. This year We've also had the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, which was really exciting as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I know it's a huge sports town, right. I mean just the whole Dallas area. Everybody's passionate about really anything, right, but football. I know the Cowboys are kind of king in town, but the Stars the Rangers, the Mavericks- yeah, and now we also have the XFL Renegades.
Speaker 1:And the Renegades. Okay, yeah, all right. Yeah, awesome, awesome, all right. Well, enough sports. I want to talk more about you, roxanne, but excellent work on the parade and all that you're involved in. I want to stay here one more second, though, and ask about your military service. First, thank you for your service. You served in the United States Air Force, is that correct? Tell me a little bit about your service and where that took you.
Speaker 3:That's correct. Yeah, so I served for a short time. I had an injury so I got out early, but I served as a Chinese cryptologic linguist. I joined right after 9-11. And I thought, you know, I would be going to Afghanistan. You know I wanted to fight terrorism and when you join the military you take a series of tests and that kind of determines what your job will be. And you know, I took the ASVAB and they're like okay, you're going to take a language test and the way I scored on that determined that I would be a Chinese linguist. And so so I learned Chinese. I worked on a couple of missions and then I had an injury and I ended up getting out. But but I had a great time I served in. I did my training in Monterey, california, which is the best duty station in the world. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome. Well, thank you for your service. We're glad that you're safe, you know, despite your injury, that you know things are okay for you and you're moving forward in your career and in your life. That's fantastic. Now I wanted to ask you specifically about your journey at WGU and really kind of how that journey has helped propel you in your career and helping you reach your dreams and doing the things that you're passionate about. Why did you decide to go back to school?
Speaker 3:Okay, I'll share a brief story here. I'll try not to ramble, but you know, one day, you know, I just realized I wasn't quite where I wanted to be with my career and I was poking around on LinkedIn, you know, maybe it's time for a new role. And I saw a position I was really interested in and I knew I wasn't qualified for it. But I was like this is the type of role that I want someday. And I was looking at what the requirements were and you know thinking how can I prepare myself for this type of role? And there were a few types of experience within change management that I didn't quite have yet and I was like OK, I know I can ask for these types of projects at work to try to gain this type of experience, but they also wanted an MBA.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I was like, ok, well, that's pretty clear cut if I want this type of role. And I had seen that requirement on other similar roles and I was like, ok, you know, that's, that's pretty clear. Also, I noticed at work that people who were getting promoted around me had advanced degrees. All of my leaders had MBAs. And I just knew, okay, this is something I'm going to have to do if I want to get to that next level. So at that time I was like, okay, this is, I'm ready to move forward in my career. And you know, I kind of live by the motto of you know, the time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well, might as well, do it. So I kind of just decided in that moment let's, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Jumped in, let's do it. Yeah, I love that. Now, how is this decision connected to a bigger dream you had for your life?
Speaker 3:So I think for me there's like a kind of a fine line between a dream and a fear. So I guess my biggest fear is, like you know, to become stale, like I never want to stop evolving. I always want to keep moving forward and especially setting an example for my daughter of like you can make your life whatever you want it to be. You never want to be a complainer, you know like, oh, you know work sucks. Or you know I don't like the way my life is going. You know we make it what we want it to be. So, so for me this is really just about continuing to evolve and, um, you know, getting getting to where I want to be.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. What would you say was holding you back from doing this sooner, if anything?
Speaker 3:Um, I think for me it was just that it wasn't a priority yet. You know, it's something that was on my radar before and kind of like, you know, I might go back to school someday, I might go to law school. You know, I thought about it but I had, you know, been progressing in other areas and just wasn't wasn't quite a priority. But once I made the decision, okay, it's time to move forward. Um, you know, I think it was less than a week from the time that I saw that job posting and was like I'm ready to make some changes until I, you know.
Speaker 3:I evaluated WGU and other schools and was committed to WGU like within inside of seven days.
Speaker 1:Wow. So when you committed, you committed quickly and you moved.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's no time to waste.
Speaker 1:No time to waste. I love that. That's great. What was the biggest unexpected surprise or bonus from going back to school? Was there anything that stands out to you? Can I give you two answers? You sure can.
Speaker 3:Is there anything that stands out to you? Can I give you two answers.
Speaker 1:You sure can.
Speaker 3:Okay. So two things. One, you know, I think when people think about going back to school I've seen this kind of on the WGU forums People are like, okay, how am I going to fit school into my busy life? Everybody has a full plate. You know work, kids, all the things. You know kids activities, your own activities, you know volunteer things, pets, the whole nine yards. For me I was like, okay, when am I going to study? When am I going to take my exams? How is this going to work?
Speaker 3:And I was expecting to add a level of chaos to my life, but kind of the unexpected surprise was that everything just came into focus. Things became really easy. You know my schedule. I was able to tighten up some things, I was able to cut down on some other obligations and I got through school more quickly than I anticipated. For me it took nine months. Some people it takes longer, some people get through way faster. But that was the right pace for me and just, it just worked. It became smooth and it just was a confirmation that it was the right thing to do right thing to do.
Speaker 3:The other surprise that I had was, you know, when I first going back to the story about the job posting, when I first saw that I was like, okay, I'm probably a few years out from being able to move into this type of role. And so, you know, I went back to school. Like I said, it took nine months, and during that time, of course, I was still working and I was asking for those type of projects to gain that experience that I was lacking. And so, nearing the time of graduation, I changed my resume and my LinkedIn to say you know, my anticipated graduation date is, and I started getting contacted by recruiters. And so then, about a month before I graduated, I actually got a job offer for exactly that type of job. I got a huge promotion or, you know, bump in title and a huge salary increase. And now I'm in the type of role that I initially saw, and I thought it would take years and it only took, yeah, actually eight months, yeah, so that was very unexpected unexpected, but you'll, you'll take nonetheless yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I think we've talked a little bit about this, just kind of preparing for this interview. But this new season of the WG Alumni Podcast we're kind of asking that question about when did you know it was never too late and you've kind of shared some of that here, just in terms of going back to school and how it's advanced you, but was there a moment when you knew during this process that it wasn't too late for you to move on this?
Speaker 3:That's a good question, Kind of living by the mantra of the time is going to pass anyway, I think it's never too late kind of aligns with that and in my mind, I think it's never too late. I see myself moving into my 60s and 70s. Hopefully I'll have a nice long, long life still doing things like this, going back to school and taking new hobbies and you know things like that. But when I first decided, OK, let's go back to school, I was almost 40 and I was like this is short, this is a great time. It's definitely not too late.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is a great time. It's definitely not too late. Yeah, and you know also I knew with WGU that there are students of all ages, and I think. I don't want to misquote, but I think, like the median age of the students are, you know, in their thirties or something like that it's not you know, or not in class with a bunch of 18 year olds, and so I think that was also, you know, something that was encouraging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is correct. You know the governors, the 19 US governors that created WGU. I think they had a lot of different, you know, motivations. One was economic strength within their states right, they were trying to increase the work pool there. But another was to serve underserved students. And in a lot of cases you could say, because my goodness, you're not old, roxanne, you're young, but if you think about your 30s and your 40s, there's not a lot of institutions.
Speaker 1:at least at the time when the governors created WGU, there weren't a lot of places that served an older, using air quotes here, students and so yeah, absolutely, and 40, you're almost 40, you said when you completed your degree and I mean you've got, like you say, like many of our students, you've got a lot of years ahead of you and I love what you say. I've heard that before, maybe in a little bit different way, but the time is going to pass anyway. So why not be in the job that you want, making the money that you have a stronger desire to make and all of those things? Why sit back and let it get away from you? Why not seize that moment, like you've done? You're an excellent example of that.
Speaker 3:Thank you, yeah, and I'll tell you being in school, of course you're busier. Tell you you know, being in school, of course you're busier. And those nine months went by in a flash and I, you know, looked back and I was like I can't believe. Just over the past year I earned a master's degree, you know, and the impact that it had on my life, and I was just, you know, I still think about it. I'm just blown away. I'm like that, I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1:That's cool. That's cool, yeah. Now can you think of another time in your life where you decided it wasn't too late for something, a hobby, a bucket list, experience pursuing something that you had a dream about?
Speaker 3:You know, yes, so I've talked a little bit about like volunteerism and I, you know, spend a lot of time doing that. But I've talked a little bit about like volunteerism and I, you know, spend a lot of time doing that.
Speaker 3:But I've always wanted to be like an avid reader and I've dyslexia and I'm not the fastest reader and so that's kind of. It's kind of been discouraging to me at times, but I've always really admired people who, you know, can read several books or have a reading goal. So my sister started reading quite a bit while I was working on my degree and I was like you know what, when I finish my degree I'm going to set aside time to read just for pleasure, just for fun. And so after I graduated I started reading quite a bit and so now I would I would call myself an avid reader. So far this year I've read 35 books and I'm into book clubs. So I'm really enjoying that new hobby. So I'm hoping someday I'll get into cooking. We'll see, maybe someday.
Speaker 1:One at a time.
Speaker 3:Well it's never too late, as they say. Yeah, it's never too late.
Speaker 1:Yeah, never too late, real quickly. What's the best book you've read? 35. That's impressive what one stands out to you. One or two that stand out to you hands down.
Speaker 3:The best book I've read is called the book woman of troublesome creek and it's about the pack horse librarians of kentucky back in the 1930s, um, and it has a little bit of everything. I think anyone could enjoy this book.
Speaker 1:Interesting. Give me the title one more time.
Speaker 3:The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to have to go look it up. You say it's hands down the best book. That's an endorsement.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. All right, kay, you've had a lot of success, a lot of success, as you've highlighted. I want to ask you a question in terms of give you an opportunity to reflect on that and give some advice. What is a career or life hack that you've personally learned, and how has that hack helped you be successful?
Speaker 3:Oh, that is a good question. Okay, I might have to think for a second, the first one that comes to mind there's probably several, but the first one that popped to my mind was to assume positive intent. So I learned this from a leader just a few years ago and I wish I had learned it earlier in my career. But the idea is that you know when you are talking to someone or hear something through the grapevine and you know sounds like you know something is coming out of left field or there's a new strategy coming and it just sounds completely crazy. Just assume that it's coming from a good place and see how that changes your mindset and how you want to interact with people or how you want to in terms of change management, how you would adopt a change or what questions you would ask.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's really profound. You think if people did that in family relationships, in work situations, in politics right, and maybe some of those in negotiations, right, all of those things if people approached it from a positive intent standpoint, how different things might look.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and even if there isn't positive intent, then if you approach it that way, I mean it could really shift the dynamic.
Speaker 1:That's a good point, even if it's not a good place. Yeah, at least you arrive, assuming and giving extending some grace, if you will. Very profound, roxanne, thank you for sharing. All right, what do you hope to accomplish over the next one to two years, and this can be personally or professionally, with your volunteer work. One to two years down the road 25, 26, what do you want to have accomplished?
Speaker 3:the road, 25, 26,. What do you want to have accomplished? That's a great question. So a couple of things. So I have some personal health goals that I've been working toward. So several years ago I was in a car accident. Prior to that, I was doing powerlifting, and so I want to get back into that. Not at a competitive level, but I've been working toward that. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:So that's one of them. And then also there's a certification within change management that is kind of the top of the line. It's a certified change management professional certification that I'm working toward. Of the line, it's a certified change management professional certification that I'm working toward. So very few people have it, but I'm studying for that and hopefully by the end of next year.
Speaker 1:What level or what's the title of that?
Speaker 3:A certified change management professional.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:It's CCMP.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ccmp. Well, good luck with that and your health goals and your power lifting. You have to provide us an update. We'll hold you accountable, like so many of our students know those weekly calls with your mentor to keep you on task, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've put yourself out there for this growing audience. So now you know, okay, everybody's expecting big things out of you. That's great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know, I almost didn't want to say it.
Speaker 1:You know what, though? Let me share a life hack with you. Sometimes just putting it out there, like now, if you don't do it, no pressure, certainly, but I know, when I do that, when I set a goal and I verbalize it, or I put it out there with friends or family or some on social media, what have you? It's kind of a motivator. It's like, okay, I was going to do it, I got to.
Speaker 3:now, all these people are going to think I'm crazy if I don't. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, let that work in a positive way to motivate you. I know that's not your motivation, but we can help you in that regard.
Speaker 1:Well, roxanne, this has been a fascinating interview. Again, we are just honored to call you a distinguished graduate. We're grateful for the work that you do. We know that you're a champion of WGU, a strong advocate, and we are just thrilled to honor and celebrate you. We're going to do that to honor and celebrate you. We're going to do that over the next year in various ways, and so we look forward to doing that for you and the other 13 distinguished graduates. We'll put a link for folks that want to go and read a little bit more about you. We know there's additional information, that you've provided a more detailed Q&A, and so we'll provide that to folks that want to learn more about you. Anyway, if somebody wanted to reach out and connect, either maybe they want to get an entry into the parade or otherwise are you on LinkedIn or is there a place that people can find you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, LinkedIn would be a great way to connect. Yeah, definitely open to that.
Speaker 1:Okay, and the spelling of your name it's Roxanne Thalman.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, Thalman T-H-A-L-M-A-N.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect. Yeah, definitely reach out, connect with Roxanne. We love that. We have a growing alumni base more than 300,000. And again, in the state of Texas, we're growing and growing. It's one of our largest states in student populations, so that is great to see. So, Roxanne, as we conclude the interview, I'd love to toss to you for a final word. So any final thoughts, advice, jokes, comments, anything the floor is yours and we can conclude the interview.
Speaker 3:Oh, you know I love jokes. I wish I would have come prepared with one. But yeah, I just want to say thanks so much for having me on and this award is, you know, a great honor, profound honor. But yeah, I appreciate your time and this opportunity to share more information and I would just encourage anyone who's considering WGU or, you know, moving on to a master's or a second degree with WGU to really take that opportunity. It has been life changing for me and my family. I can't recommend it enough.
Speaker 3:So definitely definitely take that opportunity Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, Roxanne, all the best to you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you too, Jeff. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to the WGU Alumni Podcast. To learn more about the WGU alumni community, visit wguedu backslash alumni. Thank you to our alumni, now 300,000 strong and growing WGU a new kind of you.