Earning a graduate degree was always on Ashley McKeon’s to-do list. After earning her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Portland in Oregon, she figured she would work for a few years, get a graduate degree, and then “do my real career.”

Now a student in Virginia Tech’s Executive Master of Natural Resources program located in the greater Washington, D.C., area, McKeon noted that the “real career” unfolded first.

From Capitol Hill to the private sector

She had worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative intern as an undergraduate and knew she wanted to return after graduation. The Utah native worked in her home state for a few years, then moved to the D.C. area to work as a congressional legislative assistant for several years. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

She returned to Congress as a senior staff member on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and then turned to the private business sector, working at Cargill, a multinational food and agriculture corporation with its roots in the United States, where she ultimately became director of regenerative agriculture. Most recently, she launched her own consulting firm.

An unexpected path

“It's funny, when you look back on your life and your career, things make sense in hindsight, but at the start of it, I never would have predicted this journey,” McKeon said. She is excited to use her experience in the public and private sectors and her understanding of how those worlds intersect and the critical issues they confront.

McKeon said as her career progressed, she did not see how a graduate degree program would fit into her life. But a conversation with a friend in the executive master’s degree program renewed her interest in graduate education. As she learned more about the hybrid, cohort-based program, which combines online courses and monthly class weekends, she believed it was something she could do. The program also includes a 10-day global study and field experience, and it addresses climate, biodiversity, sustainability, and other issues with which McKeon was familiar though her career.

A program that would help her professional life

“I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this checks a lot of boxes.' It is very leadership focused and it has real practical application,” she said. She was particularly interested in the ways the program would help her professional life. “I wanted a more well-rounded view of how the whole system works.”

She attended a class on a weekend, met some of the students, and after talking with her family, she decided to enroll. “I applied over the summer and got in. For me it was that mix of real hands-on practical studies and the broader knowledge, the time frame, and the time commitment. They seemed like something I could balance.”

She said her husband and children were supportive. In fact, on her first day of class, they made her write a “first day of graduate school sign,” and hold it for a photo, similar to the ones they had for their first days of school. She said the program in many ways has exceeded her expectations in many ways, especially her relationship with her fellow students.

“Everyone is at a different stage of their career, of their life, of what they want to get out of the program,” she said. “When we come together for our class weekends, as opposed to seeing everybody every day on campus, you get this, ‘OK, where are you? You're living these different places. Let's bring all that interest and knowledge together and share.’”

A global context

McKeon said the capstone travel experience was another draw, as it offers a chance to talk with people working on the ideas they explore in class. Her cohort will travel to Mexico to talk with people about water management in urban and rural settings.

“It is a way to meet with partners who are actually doing some of the things we're learning about in theory and ask them, how do you bring people together for collective action? How do you really bridge barriers between groups that need to accomplish something together?” she said. “I think we're going to meet with a lot of folks on the ground who have done this in that context.”

She also likes the program’s monthly class meetings this year are at the new academic building in Alexandria. One weekend, the program hosted a pizza party in the eighth floor gathering space known as the treehouse. “I’ve been in D.C. a long time,” she said. “But every once in a while, you look at these views and you think, 'Yeah, this is a cool place to be.'”