There are any number of reasons Chloe Roby should not have succeeded in life.
She could have been derailed by the turbulent childhood that saw her leave the house as a high school student and drop out just a few weeks shy of graduation.
There was the arrival of her first child when she was 18 years old; the struggle to provide for her family as a single mother; and the battle against criticism from her own mother, who doubted Roby’s ability to earn a college degree.
Then there was the chain of medical complications, culminating with open-heart surgery to mitigate an ailment that could have ended her life just as she prepared to complete her graduate degree.
Through it all, Roby found a network of support at Oklahoma City University that has helped her reach heights she never could have anticipated, while at the same time breaking free from generational bonds that could have stopped anyone less determined.
“I have grown as a person since coming to OCU,” said Roby, a licensed mental health counselor in the university Counseling Office. “I found my people at OCU and I am not only surviving but thriving because of this community.”
Roby’s personal and professional journey has recently reached new heights. In December, she was granted full licensure as a professional clinical counselor – a designation that allows her to counsel clients without supervision. The certification necessitated completing a master’s degree and accumulating 3,000 hours of practical experience.
The idea of earning a graduate degree or becoming a licensed mental health counselor was barely imaginable when Roby was in high school.
“I did not grow up thinking I would ever be able to attend college,” she said, adding that she grew up attending classes in the Moore area, but changed schools frequently as her parents moved. “I spent most of my youth in survival mode, just taking life day by day. No one in my family had ever been to college or entertained the idea that it was possible for me.”
Instability at home caused Roby to leave her parents’ house during her sophomore year of high school. She ended up withdrawing from school just weeks shy of graduation and at 18, welcomed her first son, Zachary, who was born in 1998.
“I was motivated to make a good life for him, so I tried to work full time as a single mom and I signed up for some college courses at (Oklahoma City Community College),” Roby said. “While I was able to provide my son with everything he needed emotionally and physically, I could not financially or mentally keep up with my own goal to continue taking college courses, despite my eagerness to learn.”
In 2000, Roby met her future husband, Anthony. They began dating in 2001 and were married the following year. Now they’ve been married 23 years and have three children. She said the idea of a college degree was put on the back burner as she and her husband focused on their children, including youth sports, scouting, swim lessons and camping trips to the lake.
“I really wanted to be a mom who was there and supportive of her kiddos in their milestones,” she said.
When Roby sought a career change in 2017, she started work as an administrative assistant in the OCU Counseling Office, where her job sparked a new interest and re-opened the possibility of earning a college degree.
In late 2018 she began studies in OCU’s Adult Degree Completion Program, taking advantage of the school’s tuition remission program for employees. There she was encouraged and mentored by the late Denise Binkley, who worked in student success in the Petree College of Arts & Sciences.
“Denise was so encouraging and supportive,” Roby said. “She believed in me and told me enough that I started believing in myself.”
Roby completed her bachelor’s degree in 2021, minoring in psychology, which quickly became an area of increasing interest. Along the way, she grew her role at the Counseling Office.
“I would greet students and assist them in signing up for counseling services while also performing a variety of supportive tasks that the staff in the counseling office needed,” she said. “As I began to excel in my psychology courses and mental health knowledge I became able to assist in assessing clients for their risk of suicidality and performing triage until those in crisis could meet with their counselor or receive inpatient treatments.”
She worked closely with the Counseling Office’s former director, Mindy Windholz, who helped foster Roby’s interest in psychology and encouraged her to seek a graduate degree.
Windholz said that just like Binkley, she saw something in Roby that suggested greater potential.
“When she was the administrative assistant at the Counseling Office, she was already handling situations that required a sensitivity and maturity that cannot be taught, but has to be lived to understand,” Windholz said. “Chloe’s interest and subsequent career in counseling was a lovely journey of which to bear witness.”
With Windholz’s support, Roby began her graduate studies in 2022 in OCU’s Master of Applied Behavioral Studies program – now known as the Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. That meant there were two family members enrolled at OCU, as the previous year Roby’s daughter, Morgan, started at the university as a biology major.
Roby’s job at OCU had now provided three opportunities to utilize the employee tuition remission benefit.
“The benefits of the tuition remission program changed the trajectory of my entire life,” Roby said. “If someone would have told me that working at OCU would result in my earning two degrees and becoming a mental health professional, I would have laughed at how unrealistic the whole idea was.”
Meanwhile, as a first-generation college student, and a non-traditional student to boot, Roby said her and Morgan “figured out how to navigate higher education together,” with the latter graduating this past May with aspirations to become a veterinarian.
Prior to Morgan’s trip across the graduation stage in Freede, the elder Roby had earned her right to walk by completing her master’s degree in May of 2024. However, there was doubt she could even make the ceremony.
Roby said she’s dealt with chronic illness and pain her whole adult life. She underwent a double total knee replacement soon after completing her undergraduate degree, and during graduate school she experienced health complications that required an abdominal surgery. A few months later, she came down with pneumonia. A chest X-ray intended to monitor that condition revealed something even worse: an aortic aneurism likely caused by a birth defect.
“By pure happenstance, they had found this issue that has no side effects and often ends the person’s life with no warning,” Roby said.
That diagnosis came in February 2024, with doctors recommending immediate open-heart surgery to correct the ailment.
Roby, determined not to miss graduation in May, lobbied to delay surgery until right after the commencement ceremony. With an agreement to undergo frequent scans and be prepared for emergency surgery at moment’s notice, she was able to delay the procedure while she finished her studies.
“I couldn’t fathom not graduating with my cohort,” Roby said.
Soon after graduation Roby underwent successful heart surgery, with doctors grafting a new ascending aorta. After her hospital stay, she began recovery and got back to work, building on the counseling hours needed to eventually gain licensure.
Windholz said Roby easily could have been derailed as she strove to grow and improve.
“Chloe has encountered several challenges in recent years which could have affected her significantly in her pursuit of goals and success, but she has met each of those obstacles head on and refuses to let them limit or derail her,” Windholz said. “She’s simply invested too much of herself to bow to any situation that would try to stop her progress.”
For her part, Roby credits the environment at OCU for contributing to her success during her eight-plus years at the university. Now, she gets the chance to pay it forward by contributing to the wellbeing of students on campus.
That comes on top of setting an example for her family that wasn’t there for her to see when she was growing up.
“I hoped that working at OCU would assist me in reaching my goal to earn a degree in something, but I was most hopeful that my working here would help me send my own children to college if they chose to attend,” Roby said.
“I not only ended some generational curses in my parenting goals, but I hope seeds have been planted that will empower the future generations of my family to reach for something far greater than survival.”
