Alumni, Family and Friends
For Cheyenne Black ’22 of Vernal, Utah, life has been anything but easy. A childhood plagued with an unstable home life, domestic violence and substance abuse left Cheyenne wondering if she’d ever be able to break free from such a “toxic environment.”
After many years of homeschooling, Cheyenne found inspiration when she attended a public high school, where she quickly excelled. She became involved with student government and peer-mediation.
“School felt like a sense of freedom,” Cheyenne said.
Fast-forward to her mid-20s, Cheyenne was newly divorced and a single mother to two young children. She considered furthering her education, but going to school while raising children was discouraged in the environment she grew up in.
“I thought, ‘why can’t I do both?’” Cheyenne said. “There’s no win to those kinds of stigmas. It doesn’t matter what your background is, what you’ve been through or how you go through life, it’s a matter of what you want to do with it.”
Cheyenne eventually enrolled in SNHU’s online program to work toward an associate in science with a concentration in criminal justice.
“It was really overwhelming and challenging at first. I didn’t know if I could do it. I was starting to have a lot of self-doubt,” Cheyenne said. “I had to decide whether I wanted to continue going in the same cycle I had before and give up because I was too overwhelmed. I didn’t want to drop out for the sake of old-fashioned ideologies I had engrained in me.”
Cheyenne pushed forward and ultimately found balance between single-parenthood and her educational goals.
“I realized that I just had to do the best that I could in order to move on to the next best thing,” Cheyenne said. “I had to train my brain into believing that I could manage all these things.”
Cheyenne completed her degree in the summer of 2022, and is enthusiastic to use her degree – and her own experiences – to help other victims of domestic violence navigate the criminal justice system.
“I am looking forward to expanding my horizons by becoming a paralegal or victim’s advocate,” Cheyenne said. “Justice should be given to a lot of people who have been robbed from it, sometimes without even realizing it. I can empathize with a lot of people. I want to tell them that it’s not something to be ashamed of.”
Cheyenne credits SNHU for re-acquainting her with her passion for criminal justice.
“With the criminal justice program, it shed a new light on the struggles I faced growing up. And as a fan of true crime, it was also something I felt drawn to, and it made me feel more adventurous to learn. I was excited about school. I finally had control over my success and hope for a new beginning for me and my family,” Cheyenne said. When asked what advice she would give to current students, Cheyenne said, “Never give up on what you want in life. Whether you have personal struggles or you’re feeling like you are not able to make it, you have nothing to doubt. Never doubt your capabilities.”
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