How far are you willing to commute to get to school? Would you travel 170 miles, driving almost three hours each way?
For Courtney Frelix, a senior majoring in psychology, the answer is yes. Frelix journeys from Albany, New York, to Boston University three days a week to attend classes.
Frelix attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for one year.
Then she started her out of state commute, transferring to the Medical Laboratory Technology program at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she got her Associates degree in Medical Lab Technology.
When she transferred to BU this fall, Frelix opted to continue her unconventional commute.
At BU, Frelix commutes from Albany Monday through Wednesday to attend classes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Although the drive is two and a half hours, she said she leaves around noon to “beat the traffic” and reaches campus around 3 p.m. Frelix said she spends $40 a day on gas.
Frelix said a key factor in her decision to travel state lines to BU rather than a closer school was receiving the Scholarship for Massachusetts Community College Graduates from BU’s Metropolitan College.
“I just think about the end goal, and I just think about [how] it’s all going to pay off,” Frelix said.” Life has sacrifices, so the little sacrifices I make now will benefit me long term.”
Christine Laviolette, an associate professor in the MLT program at Middlesex Community College, worked with Frelix during her time at MCC. Laviolette said Frelix originally enrolled in the program under the impression it would be online, but she chose to continue even after realizing it was in person — despite the fact that she would have to endure an almost three hour commute.
“We tried to talk her out of it,” Laviolette said. “We didn’t think she understood the depth of what she was signing on for, but she was just, ‘Nope, I’m doing it.’”
Frelix drove from Albany to the MCC’s Lowell campus two to five times a week for her classes, but her.passion for her studies surpassed her lengthy commute. Laviolette said in the two years Frelix was at MCC, she missed only two class sessions.
“She was always the voice of reason, like, ‘Guys, this is not a big deal. One day at a time,’” Laviolette said. “She was just so laid back and had a way of bringing everyone in the room at ease with her approach.”
Frelix balances class and homework with her job as a medical lab technician at St. Peter’s Health Partners in Albany, where she works night shifts.
“We have never seen such motivation, such an ability to put things where they belong and not stress and sweat the small stuff,” Laviolette said. “This girl has got it all.”
Frelix recalled her mother commuting between Mississippi and Alabama for her degree when she was a child, and she uses it as motivation in her own journey.
“I just happened to end up in a similar situation, and the fact that she did it shows me that I can do it,” Frelix said. “She did it with two kids.”
Cheryl Frelix, Courtney’s mother, said she is proud of her daughter’s work ethic and ability to push herself.
“[Courtney] has leadership qualities,” Cheryl Frelix, Courtney’s mother, said. “She’s just an awesome daughter, an awesome baby and I’m proud of her. She’s really, really pushing limits.”
For many college students, the commute would discourage them from attending school so far away.
“If I don’t get up and drive, I’ll miss class. If I miss class, I won’t have that lecture. If I make a bad grade, then all of this would have been for nothing,” Courtney Frelix said. “That motivates me, because I’m not doing this for nothing. I gotta make this count.”
