by Emma Sporleder, Student Reporter
Andrea Lauderdale would not change a thing.
Every decision, every mistake and every person that she has met has all led her right here to Alva, the place that she believes her, and her family truly belong.
Lauderdale has been staff for Northwestern Oklahoma State University for three years, her first year at Northwestern she started as the office manager for the recruitment office on campus, and then became the transfer recruiter and career services coordinator.
Today, she serves as the Coordinator of Student Success and is still the transfer recruiter. Lauderdale works with incoming transfer students by helping them set up their schedule to get enrolled. She also handles retention numbers and works to keep students enrolled at Northwestern.
Lauderdale’s husband is Tim Lauderdale, a NWOSU graduate and the associate athletic director for internal operations and the director of ranger golf.
After eight years of dating, she married her high school sweetheart. They have now been married for 10 years. Each year on their anniversary, they get a caricature done. The same woman has drawn it for the couple each year and this is Lauderdale’s favorite tradition.
Lauderdale and her husband have moved around a lot. “Every single move has proved to be exactly what was right for my family and I at the time,” Lauderdale said.
It all started for Lauderdale in Shattuck, where she was born and lived until she was two years old. Her parents then moved to Watonga and they resided there for two years, Lauderdale’s family then moved to Chandler and lived there through fourth grade, and then she finally finished her childhood just 64 miles away from Alva in Woodward where she finished high school and married Tim Lauderdale.
Upon graduating high school, Andrea attended Oklahoma State University and received her bachelor of arts degree in psychology. After she received her degree, Lauderdale moved to Alva to be with her husband and to be a family support specialist for Department of Human Services.
After two years in Alva, Andrea and Tim moved to Wichita, Kansas, where she worked as an administrative assistant on the west campus for Wichita State University.
After a year in Wichita, she became a secretary at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater and worked there for a year. Then she moved to Woodward and became a childcare licensing specialist, but after the year as a specialist, she decided to stay home with her children. She stayed home for two years before moving back to Alva.
Lauderdale says that her children are her biggest accomplishment, being responsible for her three boys and watching them grown and learn is a feeling that she will never forget.
Lauderdale’s kids’ names are Bentley, Beckham and Braxton. Bentley is six and Andrea describes him to be so smart, kind, and soft-hearted.
Andrea says that Beckham is three and he is wild, he is so sweet and so sour she tells, “He’s a real-life Sour Patch Kid.” Then there is Braxton who will be two soon, “Braxton is ornery, silly and so sweet,” Andrea exclaimed!
Lauderdale’s children are what make her most proud and she sees her husband and herself in each one of them. “I can literally feel my heart swell when I think about them,” Lauderdale says compassionately.
It’s all about family
Lauderdale is family oriented, and says her mother Sandy Boston is someone who has influenced her the most. Her mother is “strong, confident, generous, caring, and someone that I have always wanted to be like,” Lauderdale said.
Along with Lauderdale’s family, she is passionate about people, specifically people who are suffering, kids who are abused, neglected or hungry. “It hurts my stomach just thinking about it,” she said.
If you ask Andrea what her fears are, she will inform you that she once had a lot of fears. She used to fear failing classes, being alone, spiders and dying. Then they were just fears of things that affected her. Now that she has a family her fears have changed.
Lauderdale fears disappointing the people that she loves, she fears failing her kids and not being a good wife. Lauderdale says her biggest fear of them all is never finding her true purpose in life.
Lauderdale tried not to get too deep or personal, but depression was once a real difficulty for her. She believes that she has always had it, but it was brought to the fire-front when she had her first baby and suffered from postpartum depression.
“It was real, and scary, and sad and it was hard,” she said. “I haven’t overcome it completely and I still battle with it, but I know how to handle it now.”
Lauderdale is the coordinator of student success because she genuinely loves it. She has never been career driven and says she has never had a dream job. Lauderdale just wants to do something that makes her happy and says she has found it and for that she is so fortunate.
Lauderdale says that she has known for a while that she loves the job that she is apart of and doesn’t want to change jobs.
Her love was confirmed recently when a student came to her and asked her how she found her perfect job, this student assured her that the job is perfect for her because she is good at it and it allows her to help various people.
This reassurance felt great to Lauderdale and is what makes her confident that she is exactly where she needs to be. Dean of Student Affairs, friend and coworker Calleb Mosburg said “Andrea has done a fantastic job in Student Success, I’ve enjoyed her working in Student Services and she does a great job with the students.”
A few years ago, Lauderdale chose a job for money and realized it was the wrong choice. She was disappointed that she chose dollar signs over happiness, but it was a lesson learned.
Lauderdale has big dreams of changing lives and making a difference in the world, but a personal accomplishment would be for her to become a runner and re-learn how to play the flute that she has not played since eighth grade.
When speaking to those who know Lauderdale on a personal level, they find that there is not a bad thing to be said about her.
After sitting down with Sandy Boston, who is Lauderdale’s mother, you will learn that “Andrea has the biggest heart of anybody I know. She is compassionate to others and a born leader! From teaching her brother the fine art of ‘pretty pretty princess’ to leading her high school class as president. She has accomplished whatever she sets her mind to and I am in awe of her work ethics and desire to help the students at NWOSU. I am proud of all she has done but most of all, the incredible mom she is to her three boys. She makes me proud to be her mom!”
“My mom is really good at taking care of my brothers,” said her oldest son Bentley Lauderdale. Beckham Lauderdale her middle child says, “My mom is a bad mama llama.”