The drive, they said, drove them crazy.

To call Stacey Brendmoen and Robin Unruh commuter students would be an understatement. For the past two years, they’ve driven once a week from their hometown of Garden City to Kansas University a five-hour, 360-mile trip each way.

Stacey Brendmoen, left, and Robin Unruh chat before their final class in Kansas University's master's of social welfare program. The two students drove 720 miles round trip each week from Garden City to attend classes at KU.

“We did a lot of laughing and a lot of crying in the car,” Unruh said.

Last week, they finished their last classes in KU’s social welfare master’s program. The degree puts them in line for promotions at St. Francis Academy Inc., one of the state’s five foster care contractors, where they’ve worked for two years.

Brendmoen is interim supervisor at St. Francis’ Garden City office, and with the degree she becomes eligible to become supervisor. Unruh will be eligible for a promotion as a clinical therapist.

They selected KU because it had an accredited program and was less expensive than private universities. And they decided to go together, figuring the trip would be easier that way.

“I don’t think either one of us would’ve guessed how much the drive would take out of us,” Unruh said. “We were trying to maintain our employment, go to school one day a week and drive 11 hours.”

50,000 miles

The School of Social Welfare schedules its master’s classes so students can be on campus just one day a week. During the first year, that day was Monday. It was Thursday this school year.

Unruh and Brendmoen stayed some nights with Unruh’s sister in Topeka.

They both credit family with helping them through school. Brendmoen, 36, is married and has a 14-year-old daughter. Unruh, 33, lives with her sister in Garden City.

The students logged more than 50,000 miles in their two vehicles Brendmoen’s Honda CRV and Unruh’s Mercury Mystique.

Asked how they got along during their weekly treks, they immediately said they got along fine. Then they gave the question more thought.

Unruh: “Well, we’ve had disagreements about music.”

Brendmoen: “And the temperature of the car.”

Unruh: “And where we’re going to stop to go to the bathroom.”

Brendmoen: “And where we’re going to eat.”

They never had car troubles or speeding tickets, but a buck deer hit and smashed the passenger side window of Brendmoen’s car near Larned this spring.

They even made it safely to Lawrence on Jan. 31 the day the university canceled classes for just the ninth time in 30 years.

Western Kansas rarity

Master’s degree holders in social work are a rarity in western Kansas, where agencies struggle to find job candidates with graduate-level degrees. In fact, they struggle to find any qualified workers the 10 St. Francis offices in western Kansas have 11 vacant positions, and four of those are in Garden City.

“We have struggled to find master’s degree applicants for supervisory as well as for case manager positions in western Kansas,” said Clay Finck, who supervises St. Francis’ Garden City and Hays offices.

Jan Jess, assistant director of field practicum for the School of Welfare, said KU has had several students commute as far as Unruh and Brendmoen over the years. But they’re the exception, not the rule.

“Somebody driving from Garden City every week has perseverance,” she said. “They were really committed to their graduate education. They’ll continue to work in their community they’re upgrading their skills and making a contribution to the area.”

Unruh said she was looking forward to actually working five days a week instead of taking a day off for class and driving. Brendmoen said she’s simply looking forward to spending less time in a car.

“I just feel like a huge burden has been lifted knowing I won’t have to get in a car and drive every week,” she said.

And how will they celebrate their degrees?

“I don’t know,” said Unruh with a laugh. “Maybe we’ll go for a drive.”