Student Perspectives

It reads like a headline straight out of a Hollywood screenplay: Small-town Girl Makes It Big.

Named one of People magazine’s “One Hundred Most Beautiful People” for 2006, Lindsay Clubine hosts HDNET’s Get Out and appears as a spokes-model on NBC’s hit game show Deal or No Deal. She is also making her dreams come true—not only on TV, but also throught independent study.

Clubine, 23, began her college education at the University of Missouri-Columbia before her modeling career took off, first in Kansas City and then with the Ford Modeling Agency in Chicago. She began taking courses through MU’s Center for Distance and Independent Study shortly before she agreed to host Get Out, a travel show where Clubine takes viewers on adventures to exotic locations around the globe.

From skydiving to cross-country commuting to hobnobbing with Donald Trump, this Midwest girl appreciates the many worldly opportunities, but says she strives to stay grounded. “I just try to be myself. I’m very proud of where I came from,” Clubine says of her rural Missouri roots. “I’m getting to do so much and see so much. It’s amazing.”

Despite a wealth of success, the Camden, MO., native’s dream of finishing her college degree was never far from her thoughts. “It was really scary to leave school, but it’s been a great adventure, and I don’t regret it. So now its really nice to be working toward that goal.”

A hectic travel schedule, rolled into acting and TV hosting classes, meant Clubine needed college courses that could travel with her. And she didn’t just need to take courses toward a degree, but also to complete it. Clubine now is doing both with CDIS’s online bachelor of general studies completion program.

Her father, says Clubine, is her greatest inspiration for completing her undergraduate degree. “He finished his degree while raising children and taking night classes,”she says. “It took him several years, but I saw him do it and thought, ‘I can do this’”.

Clubine hopes a degree will further her dream of becoming a serious media host like Katie Couric or Barbara Walters. “I have a lot of friends who are famous actors who don’t have that college degree. But if I have the education, as well as my experience, then I’m a double threat,” she says. “I’ve always had these aspirations, and to see them take form and be real now is just amazing to me. I definitely see myself moving forward, and it’s great to be making strides toward my goals.”