Dream it, plan it, do it: Eckmann continues to be an inspiration to students
Terry (Ferebee) Eckmann ’81/’82 has a motto for her students: Dream it, plan it, do it. She’s followed that same mantra for much of her personal life.
Eckmann, in her 23rd year with Minot State and currently the chair of the Teacher Education and Kinesiology Department, is an author, international health and wellness presenter, former small business owner, leader, and educator.
The common thread with these ventures is she has strived to inspire and encourage — readers, audiences, and students alike.
“I have been supported in everything I’ve done and I hope to continue to support students in the same way,” Eckmann said. “I always had big dreams and set goals to make them happen. I’ve presented at conferences in the U.S., Canada, Thailand, New Zealand, and Mexico. I’ve been writing articles, book chapters, and books for three decades. I’ve served on international advisory boards and even had the opportunity to host my own TV segment, ‘Eye on Fitness,’ for over 25 years.
“Sometimes I think I didn’t realize how much I was putting myself out there because if I did realize it, I probably would have been too scared to do it.”
That support system started with her parents, Cliff and Marion Ferebee, and was solidified at Minot State by her mentor Garnet Cox. Cox spent 33 years at Minot State, influencing countless students along the way, including Eckmann who felt Cox was constantly her biggest fan.
“Garnet was such an inspiration to me throughout my life. The one thing I hope I do for students is what she did for me and that was help them believe in themselves,” she said. “We all have self-doubt and won[1]der about the direction we are going, but when someone encourages you and believes in you, sees the good in you, and pushes you to do a little bit more, those are the ones that make the biggest impact. Garnet did that for me.
“She taught me or reinforced many of the things my parents had given me, like put your best foot forward, believe in your abilities, show up, show up early, work hard, do those things and you will be successful.”
Eckmann and Cox continue to share a special bond to this day and the life lessons Cox taught extend into many facets of Eckmann’s life.
“It’s so many things, like investing and negotiating for myself, maybe things outside of what the expectations were of a woman, like starting a new business,” Eckmann said. “Garnet came here from upstate New York in the 50s. It takes a pretty strong woman to do that and she inspired me to be a strong woman.”
Eckmann’s opportunity to meet Cox almost didn’t happen. As the Halliday native approached high school graduation, Eckmann had planned to attend Dickinson State as were many of her fellow classmates. But she yearned to stretch her wings.
“I was all set to go to Dickinson State. Most of our high school events, districts and regional basketball, speech, music, they were all there,” she said. “I had quite a few scholarships there. But I decided I wanted to look for a university that was a little bigger and maybe didn’t have as many people from my hometown.
“I wanted something bigger and better, and my career choices at the time were education and speech-language pathology. I decided speech path was the right direction for me and Minot State had a great speech path program. I earned undergrad degrees in both and a master’s in speech-language pathology.”
Eckmann continued to look for bigger and better adventures that ultimately led to her teaching career.
After working as a speech-language pathologist, owning her own business, Body by Choice exercise studio, and serving as the Director of Wellness, Marketing, and Community Education at Trinity Health in Minot, she found her way back to MSU.
“I started the Wellness Center at Trinity Health and served in various leadership roles at Trinity — marketing, community ed, public relations, wellness — for 12 years,” she said. “During that time, I never really considered it (teaching at MSU), not that I didn’t want to, just didn’t think about it. I loved what I was doing and where I was at.
“But some changes happened at Trinity and Dave Rochholz (then director of human performance program at MSU) reached out about teaching. I thought about it overnight and then called him back and said yes. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. I’ve had some amazing jobs, I’ve been very fortunate to have great bosses, but by far this is my favorite career opportunity.”
In the process, Eckmann moving to Minot State has opened many doors for students to expand their horizons nationally and internationally through research and student travel.
“One of our students, Dani Bates ’15, applied for a position in Colorado and beat out people from much larger universities,” Eckmann said. “They all wondered how she was able to get some of the experiences she had on her resume, the research and the writing. Students in bigger universities rarely have that opportunity. Jade Teske ’18/’20 was one of the first to start traveling internationally. Those experiences have opened the eyes of our students beyond our walls, outside of North Dakota, outside of the Midwest region, and they realize there are many career opportunities available.”
Students now have the opportunity to teach, intern, and attend conferences with Eckmann in Thailand, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Canada, and Mexico.
Her research on the effects of exercise on the aging process fuels much of those current student experiences, but the passion for the subject started much earlier for Eckmann.
“My interest in the impact of exercise on aging started in my 20s when I thought people my age now (60s) were old,” Eckmann said. “Now, of course, I look at people my age and have a different perspective on what is old. The fastest growing segment of the population in the US is 90-plus. Today, there are 3 million and it is estimated by 2050 there will be 10 million. One of the most exciting things we have learned is exercise not only is good for the body, it is the key to brain health.
“I’ve been thinking about the next step for a while now and really want to work on better understanding the effects of exercise on dementia and what the brain remembers.”
Her research also led her to achieve a bucket list item, writing a book. While presenting at a conference, she was approached by the publisher of Healthy Learning.
“Every neuroscientist presenting at a Brain and Learning Conference I attended in Boston talked about the importance of exercise in learning and cognition. I was so excited about that and started to do some research in that area,” she said. “I presented at the American College of Sports Medicine, that was very popular because of my research on the brain and exercise. Nobody had really grasped that concept yet, so the presentations were packed. I was approached by James Peterson from Healthy Learning and was asked if I had considered writing a book. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much from that first one — and it sold very well for them — so he asked me to do another.”
Eckmann’s first two books, “101 Brain Boosters” and “101 Ways to Age Gracefully,” allowed her to collaborate with her daughter, Katie (Eckmann) Heupel ’19, on a third book, “101 Mindfulness and Meditation Practices.” She is especially fond of the experience working with her daughter.
“The second book is my favorite book, because I had a better process for organizing and writing, plus I’m passionate about healthy aging. But the most pleasant experience was writing a book on mindfulness with my daughter,” she said. “That came about because Katie embraced yoga with such fierceness. She is one of the youngest instructors to get her 200 RYT and 500 RYT. When they approached me about doing one about mindfulness, I said yes, if she can do it with me. They said absolutely.
“Katie had such a passion and so much understanding for the subject — and she had been editing my other books as an MSU English major for me — it just worked.”
Eckmann believes getting opportunities like working with her daughter stem from building solid relationships starting in a student’s college years.
“So many people have big dreams, and something holds them back,” she said. “So, you need to dream it, plan for it and have some goals, show up and do it. Along the way, you need to be supported.
“I’m so grateful for the relationships I’ve built at Minot State and the support I’ve been given. Dr. David Williams and Dr. John Torgerson, in speech path; Archie Peterson, who was my boss as an admission counselor; Garnet; Dave Rochholz; Gary Leslie ’61 (coach and chair of the physical education department); I could go on and on. Even today, Laurie Geller ’96 (vice president for academic affairs) has been an amazing leader. Her and Nancy Hall (former VP for academic affairs) over my career have been two leaders who I have a lot of respect for. Those kinds of leaders make a difference in your life.”
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Dream it. Plan it. Do it. Eckmann continues to be an inspiration to students is the cover story from the Spring Connections 2022 issue. Connections is published two times a year by the Minot State University Alumni Association and Development Foundation. |
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Published: 03/23/22
