P23
May 2013
College of Education
CLASS OF 2013
G
rowing up,
Patricia Greenough
battled the stigma of learning
disabilities and fought through school with the fear that she may never
succeed academically.
After graduating from Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, she earned
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years of study from Grand Canyon
University and is working toward her doctorate. She hopes to use her
experience to help students struggling with similar obstacles.
Greenough, 23, enrolled at GCU in the fall of 2008. By the spring of 2011,
she had earned a bachelor’s in secondary education with an emphasis in
mathematics. She is graduating this month with a master’s in special education
cross-categorical, having earned that between January and November of 2012.
Most students take four years to complete their undergraduate studies and
two for a graduate degree. But Greenough, whose maiden name is Chittenden,
couldn’t wait that long.
“Part of my plan included finishing my degree in three years so I could
complete my master’s in one,” said Greenough, who struggles with dyslexia,
short-term memory loss, auditory processing issues and ADHD.
“I want to be able to go out and start a gifted learning disability program to
help kids like me succeed,” she said.
Greenough said she coped with learning disabilities throughout high school
and was often forced to implement an Individual Education Plan to ease
the education process. As a high school senior, Greenough struggled to
comprehend the spelling, grammar and punctuation lessons taught in her
English class. Her disabilities spread across several categories, restricting her
from obtaining the help she needed.
Without the support of her family, she said, she might have never graduated
from high school – or become a teacher.
Greenough currently teaches freshman math and coaches freshman girls
volleyball at Betty H. Fairfax High School in Laveen, where she met her
husband,
A.J. Greenough
, who teaches physical education. The two married
earlier this year. Patricia Greenough was highly involved during her time
at GCU, serving as a member of the Associated Students of GCU and as a
resident assistant on campus.
She has deep roots at GCU, with more than 60 members of her family having
attended the University since it opened in 1949. She said her grandparents
attended the University, then Grand Canyon College, in its early years.
Seemingly everyone – from her parents to her siblings and cousins – has been
an Antelope at one time or another. Even her husband earned his master’s
degree from GCU.
Her family history is so significant that the University has a family-tree portrait
hanging in the Tell Science computer lab. She currently has eight family members
at GCU, including younger sister and upcoming senior
Jenna Chittenden
;
older sister
Kimberly Klem
, who works as an enrollment counselor at GCU’s
Peoria site; and Director of Athletics
Keith Baker
, her second cousin.
“The Baker side is the base of it all. My grandparents came over from Oklahoma
during the Dust Bowl,” said Baker, who has been part of the GCU community
for more than 30 years as a student, athlete and employee. “Even when I went
to school here, there were always cousins on the same dorm floor as me.”
Greenough is proud of her heritage at the University, adding that without
the support of her parents and relatives she wouldn’t have been able to
persevere and succeed.
“My family has always encouraged me and told me that I can do anything,”
Greenough said. “They never let my disabilities become an excuse or hold
me back.”
■
Math teacher Patricia Greenough
lets nothing get in her way
DIFFERENTLY ABLED
– by Cooper Nelson
Patricia Greenough teaches a freshman algebra class at Betty H. Fairfax High School
in Laveen. The 23-year-old is one of more than 60 people in her family to have
attended GCU. Photo by Michael Ferraresi
