Triple Threat Hailen Ackerman Rejects Perfectionism

Hailen Ackerman's biggest takeaway from college is simple: you can't always be perfect. After earning two degrees at MSU Moorhead and becoming a doctoral student, Hailen shares what he struggled with and what he persevered through.

Hailen is truly an "ultimate dragon" - earning his bachelor's degree in psychology and his master's in educational leadership with an emphasis on student affairs and higher education. Current Graduate assistant and doctoral student Hailen Ackerman is continuing his studies in educational leadership at MSUM.

Originally, Hailen wanted to go into counseling but soon realized after getting his undergraduate at MSUM and being the president for the psychology club that he had a knack for being a leader and wanted to pursue educational leadership.

"I enjoy higher education because of the academic focus, maturity level of students, and the fact that individuals from all backgrounds have the opportunity to earn a degree and develop a better quality of life."

Hailen says working as a graduate assistant reinforced his passion for higher education as well. The Office of Graduate & Extended Learning, where he has worked for three years, helped him connect with students who were working through the application process.

"When you see students get admitted or attend classes it's great to know that you helped them out in some way."

Once he made the decision to pursue a master's degree in educational leadership, Hailen had another choice to make; stay here at MSUM to continue his master's or go somewhere else. Ultimately Hailen says the deciding factor was how easy it felt to talk to the MSUM professors.

Hailen's drive to help people is evident, but most importantly, Hailen chose to continue beyond a master's degree and pursue an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for himself.

"I didn't really feel like getting my doctoral degree really was an option as much as it was mandatory. I grew up in a low-income household. So, I felt that education was my best opportunity to get out of the cycle of poverty. It just always felt like I needed to do this."

Hailen says one of the things he loves about MSUM's doctoral program is that there's no need to be perfect.

"I just recently have started to learn that the pursuit of perfection is not a healthy goal to achieve" he says. Hailen enjoys that he can resubmit essays or exams again after getting feedback from instructors. This allows him to take the critiques and apply them to improve his work.

Trying to leave the cycle of poverty is a challenge. Doing it while pursuing a degree and working is even more challenging. Hailen discusses the grit it takes coming from a low-income household to being on your own as a student.

"I've had my lights and internet go out. And when those things happen the last thing, you want to do is learn about Freud or do any schoolwork. So, to overcome that I took some time to breathe, and remember why I'm here."

That said, Hailen discussed wanting to pursue educational research in his future, specifically research on low-income students and their deciding factors for going to college. In true "ultimate dragon" fashion, he says he would love to return to MSUM one day to teach educational leadership.