With more than 10 years of experience working in project management, Lynn Young is focusing on enhancing her career in Boise State University’s online Bachelor of Business Administration in Management program.
“It’s understanding the value as it relates to business, the quality, the data, the metrics and how to appropriate and apply that reasoning from conception to close-out,” she said. “I have some other career goals.
“In one of the classes I took, we did SMART goals. We had to do a timeline of our short- and long-term goals. It was fascinating and mind-blowing. From there, I was able to define where I wanted to be in my career and what I can take from each class and apply and optimize it with my profession.”
Young is a part-time student who plans to graduate in September 2026. She is also the mother of three sons — Zion Parrish (24), Adon Brooks (18) and Caleb Brooks (13) — and lives in Hollywood, California. Zion attends Humboldt State University.
“I started the program at Boise State in 2022,” she said. “I took a pause because my partner of 16 years passed away. I didn’t have a good mental run, then I picked it back up last year and have been steaming through it.”
Young believes graduating in 2026 will open new doors of opportunities.
“I am in my forties, so I am midway through my career,” she said. “You have a lot of new people come in who aren’t as seasoned as me, but they have the degree. I find myself in positions where I am working with them, pulling them up to speed and training them.
“There are also people in this profession who are older. They are a little more dated, because they don’t have the information and didn’t go back to college, or never did.
“I can leverage this information I am learning at Boise State to what I want that end goal to look like. It’s an exciting, challenging educational time for me.”
From teaching to project management
Young is from Michigan, where she was an art teacher with the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit before being laid off.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I went to school for real estate,” she said. “I wasn’t interested in selling homes, but I loved the management end of it.
“I got a job in property management at my cousin’s company, which was life-changing. I started in low income, then I moved up to market rate, then tax credit, then new home construction. I wanted to get a real estate license because the first time I took the exam, I failed it.”
Young moved to California in 2010. She took real estate classes through Los Angeles Community College and earned an associate degree in marketing in 2018.
“I passed the test, then I got into commercial real estate,” she said. “From that, I was a project and facilities manager. I worked in design and construction, which was where I got my love for project management. That was it. I loved it from there.”
The flexibility of the online format is big for Young. Although she is a full-time student, she needs the extra convenience of doing school at her own pace and on her own timeline.
“It is pretty manageable,” she said. “I’m used to tight deadlines. The information is overwhelming because it’s fast-paced. You have more pressure and workload.
“I have ADHD, so it’s sometimes a struggle for me to meet those deadlines. I focus on the materials, outline and set myself up to execute a little bit better.”
Business Law and Business Management are two of Young’s favorite courses in the online Bachelor of Business Administration program curriculum.
“In Business Management, we looked at what leadership looks like, leading by example,” she said. “That’s the class where we made SMART goals. I did my flower power assignment, which I loved, in that class. I still pull that up, and I applied it to the Business Law class.
“My favorite class was an elective, Wine Tasting and Brewing. I loved that. I am into wine tasting, and I do a lot of home brews. I am an herbalist. This is stuff I have been doing for years. That class opened my mind up.
“It almost felt like I was travelling from one country to the next, understanding the lay of the land, the terrain. It was a fun, higher education class. I am going to get that certification, too.”
Strength training
Young hopes to put the finishing touches on earning a degree by walking at the commencement ceremony in Boise next year.
“I would love to do it,” she said. “I have never been to Boise. My family and friends are excited because they look at it like earning a degree is a good thing for me. I am adamant about what success looks like and what the tools and competencies look like.”
Once she returns to the workforce, Young has a couple of avenues she plans to pursue as a bachelor’s degree holder.
“I’d love to establish myself as an independent contractor, where I am going into different organizations and helping them with my strengths,” she said. “One of my strengths is optimizing processes and procedures, looking at bottlenecks and constraints and making sure the team has the tools and training they need to be successful and deliver that project to the client.
“I understand different protocols and procedures within companies. Long-term, I hope to do that and some presentations, like TED talks about what it’s like to be an African-American woman in this male-dominated industry. I want to send that message to women, that you can be in design and construction or project management, and this is what it looks like.”
Young believes that age, financial status and life status should not be deterrents to returning to school as an online student and earning a degree.
“Every step of the way, Boise State has been a great resource for me to reach my goal,” she said. “I have a wonderful advisor. It’s okay to go back to school, regardless of how old you are.
“If you have the support system like Boise State has provided me, you can do it. I can’t stress that enough. I am all about strength and empowerment. It’s a wonderful program that made me believe in myself. I said, ‘I can do this. I can push through.’”
Learn more about the business administration program
Earning an online Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Boise State University can open doors to new opportunities and a brighter future — and we’re here to support you every step of the way. Whether you’re exploring if an online degree is right for you or need help transferring credits, connecting with a student success coach is the perfect first step.
Ready to learn more? Attend one of our online information sessions or contact a student success coach today.