Students Like Norah Baron Are What SUU Online Is All About
Posted: August 08, 2025 | Author: Nicholas Marinoff | Read Time: 5 minutes
One of the advantages of higher education is that it’s never too late to get started, and students like Norah Baron show that no matter your age, the door to turning your educational ambitions into a reality is always open.
As a resident of Clearfield, Utah, Baron is an online student at SUU who’s getting ready to graduate in December of 2025 with a bachelor's degree in history. She’s also minoring in library media. During the day, she works at Doxey Elementary School in nearby Sunset. Her duties involve teaching humanities, advising Vex IQ, her school district’s robotics program, and offering an enrichment initiative to the top 5% of students. Between her day job and personal academic pursuits, she’s a busy woman.
She also has a family of her own that still relies on her wisdom and good nature. Following her graduation from high school many years ago, she decided she wasn’t ready to commit to a university. She got married and gave birth to her children before eventually returning to a classroom. She also homeschooled her kids for approximately five years. Now college aged, her son Noah is an on-campus student at SUU and currently serves as presidential ambassador. The two entered a friendly contest to see who would graduate first, and with her December ‘25 date coming fast, she’s set to win.
Speaking with SUU, Baron offered more details about her life, what inspired her to seek her degree, and why the option of going online worked well for her.
“I wanted to prove to myself that I could accomplish this goal,” she commented in her interview. As a first-generation college student, she’s the first in her family to attend, but with her busy schedule, the only time she’d have to study would be during evenings and weekends, and the flexibility of going online would let her continue her education without sacrificing too much. “I miss the connection and learning that comes from in-person discussions, but online is the only way I can pursue school.”
Regarding why she chose SUU, she says she’s always been familiar with the campus and was first introduced to it back in high school through the aid of local recruiters.
“I wish I had paid more attention to the recruiters,” she said jokingly. “I really think I would have been able to finish my degree then.”
While that opportunity to attend SUU passed her by, another came along years later. It was her son Noah who indirectly reconnected her to the campus when he learned about the university through its Governors Honors Academy. He was accepted into the program in his junior year in high school and participated during the summer.
Upon visiting the college with her son, Norah Baron was impressed by its atmosphere and approached University President Mindy Benson, who asked if Baron possessed a degree. She replied in the negative, saying it was too expensive, but Benson invited her to consider the Speedway Bachelor of General Studies program, saying it was more than affordable and easy to finish within a reasonable period. Upon further research, Baron was intrigued and quickly enrolled, but there was a catch she hadn’t expected.
As a lifelong lover of history, Baron was displeased by the lack of history courses available through the Speedway program. She shared that her attraction to times past began with her grandmother and the summers she spent with her as a young girl in Pittsburgh.
“We’d visit cemeteries to do wax gravestone rubbing to better read the inscriptions,” she said. “We’d then research those people. We also took trips to history museums.”
She especially loved the Fort Necessity National Battlefield site and spent a summer volunteering there. She’s also volunteered with the Find a Grave project.
At an event near her home, she spoke with a SUU professor and expressed her displeasure with the Speedway program’s history offerings. The professor said if she felt so strongly about history, she should switch her major. SUU’s history program would still be affordable and available fully online. Baron took the professor’s advice and hasn’t looked back since, saying the school has been something of a miracle in her life.
“SUU has a family community,” she said. “People are welcoming and kind. The professors are personable and can even become your friends. It’s the best college experience.”
With her graduation date just months away, her plan is to become a history teacher in secondary schools. Her district will help her earn a teacher’s license following the end of her lessons, and her chosen minor qualifies her for a job in her school’s library. She’s also open to working with a historical organization.
Her studies have already allowed her to make a difference with those she teaches, as Baron thrives on delivering tidbits of obscure information to her students to tantalize their young minds. One of the historical figures she admires most is Dolly Madison, the wife of President James Madison. Thanks to Baron, her students now know Dolly served seafood-flavored ice cream to visitors of the White House, and her husband became the first president to wear trousers over knickers following her advice.
She says information like this is what makes her job and pursuits worthwhile. She also regularly informs her students not to just take everything at face value. They should really do their research and go beyond what’s expected of them in the classroom.
“Be prepared to learn how to write and do research using books, not just Google,” she tells them. “You really need to love history to major in it.”
Learn more about SUU’s online History degree.
Tags: College of Humanities and Social Sciences CurStu Prospective Students Academic History SUU Online Non-Traditional Student Services
