In June 2024, I started the Ed.D. in Educational Sustainability program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
At first, I thought I was simply pursuing a degree, something I’d considered for a while as a way to grow professionally and explore sustainability in business. What I didn’t realize was that I was stepping into something that would completely change my life.
Right before the program began, I had returned from volunteering on a farm in Sweden. That experience was deeply intentional. My autistic son, Patrick, has always felt most at home with animals and in nature, and I wanted to better understand that world, his world, and what makes it feel so safe and meaningful. That time on the farm slowed life down for me. It gave me space to think differently about life, about happiness and about what really matters.
Then I arrived at the June residency for the Ed.D. program in Stevens Point, Wis., and something clicked. The combination of Sweden and the Ed.D. experience made it very clear to me; I was exactly where I was supposed to be. What I found in the program wasn’t just coursework. It was people. It was community. It was love.
After being out of school for more than 25 years, I had serious doubts about whether I would fit in or succeed. Those doubts didn’t last long. From the beginning, I felt welcomed, supported and included. My classmates quickly became more than classmates; they became real friends. The kind you lean on. The kind who show up. The kind who laugh with you, travel with you and remind you who you are when you forget.
Even though this is an online program, we stay connected through video calls, group chats, texts and phone calls. There is always someone there. But what truly deepens those relationships is the in-person residency experiences. That’s where everything comes to life. The connections become real in a very different way, and the learning feels more human, more grounded and more lasting. The faculty is the same. Supportive, thoughtful and genuinely invested in us, not just as students, but as people. For the first time in a long time, I felt smart again. I felt seen.
Life certainly can throw us curveballs. During that first summer, my life changed in a way I didn’t expect. My marriage ended. It was painful and overwhelming at times. But what stood out most was how the program responded. It didn’t just continue around me; it hugged me. I wasn’t just supported academically. I was supported as a person. My classmates and professors showed up with empathy, flexibility and encouragement. They created space for me to keep going, even when things felt uncertain. That experience reshaped how I understand education. Research shows that belonging and relational support are critical to adult learning and persistence, and I lived that firsthand in this program.
Another piece of this journey that has been incredibly meaningful has been the residency experiences. In Costa Rica last year, I began to see what sustainability and happiness can look like in practice and not just as theories, but as lived experiences. There was a different pace, a different connection to nature, and a sense of community that felt both simple and profound. It reinforced something that I had started to feel in Sweden; well-being is often rooted in connection: to land, to people and to purpose. And this year, when we travel to Maui, this understanding will deepen even more.
Being in a place that holds both incredible beauty and real hardship created a different kind of awareness. It made me think more critically about resilience, community care and what it really means to rebuild, not just physically, but emotionally and culturally. These experiences pushed my thinking beyond the classroom and into the real world, where happiness and sustainability are not abstract ideas, but daily practices.
When I began the Ed.D., I thought my research would focus on sustainability from a business lens. It felt safe, structured and aligned with my professional background. But pretty quickly, that began to shift, and, it began to reveal itself. My work started to move toward happiness and what it actually means, how we experience it, and why so many people feel disconnected from it. That’s when I found myself drawn to two ideas: hedonia and eudaimonia.
Hedonia is the joy – the lightness, the moments that make you smile. Eudaimonia is deeper. It’s about meaning, purpose and living in a way that feels true to who you are.
In many ways, my journey in this program reflects what scholars describe as a shift from hedonic well-being toward eudaimonic living, moving from simply feeling good to living well and authentically.
For most of my life, I think I was chasing pieces of both without really understanding them. I was doing what I thought I should do. Being who I thought I should be. Somewhere along the way, I lost myself a little. This program helped me find my way back.
My research has changed more times than I can count. I’ve rewritten it, questioned it, doubted it and rebuilt it. But every version has brought me closer to something real. Closer to me. That’s where “In Pursuit of Yellow” comes in.
Yellow, for me, represents joy, warmth, energy and authenticity. It’s that feeling when something just feels right, and when you’re not forcing it or questioning it, you’re just being.
This program put me on a path toward that. Not in a perfect, everything-is-always-great kind of way, but in a real, grounded way. I can honestly say now: I am happy. Not every second. Not without hard moments. But in a way that feels aligned. I know who I am. I trust myself more. I make decisions differently. I live a life that holds both hedonia and eudaimonia, joy and meaning, together. And that has changed everything.
The Ed.D. program didn’t give me all the answers. It gave me space to ask better questions. It gave me a community that supported both my personal and intellectual growth. And it gave me the confidence to pursue work that is not only academically meaningful, but personally important.
My research now is deeply connected to my life; my experiences, my son and the kind of world I want to help create. A world where people, especially those who experience life differently, can feel supported, understood and able to live with both joy and purpose.
This journey is still unfolding. My work isn’t perfect. My path isn’t linear. But it’s honest.
And for the first time in a long time, that feels like enough. More than enough, actually. It feels like yellow.
With sunshine and soul,
Laura
Laura Dunlop is student in cohort 8 of the Ed.D. in Educational Sustainability program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.