CONTACT:
Linda Relyea
719-587-7827
lsrelyea@adams.edu
www.adams.edu/news
ALAMOSA, CO. (May 28, 2026) – Candice Baughman, of Tenino, Wash., explained her story with Adams State University, located in Alamosa, Colo., is very personal. “I started my MBA while I was still incarcerated. At that time, education was not just about earning another degree. It was about rebuilding my life, finding purpose, and becoming the kind of woman and leader I knew I was capable of being. Adams State gave me that chance at a time when hope and opportunity mattered deeply.”
Baughman graduated with a Master in Business Administration, at the Adams State University Spring 2026 Commencement Ceremony on May 16, 2026. She was named an Outstanding Post-graduate by the School of Business.
Today, she is a program specialist with Underground Ministries’ One Parish One Prisoner program, supporting congregations across Washington in building reentry accompaniment teams for people coming home from incarceration. Baughman is also the founder of Ed 4 Empowerment and a Reentry Program Specialist with Interaction Transition’s Hope on the Horizon peer mentoring program.
“My work focuses on helping justice-impacted people move toward housing, education, employment, and real community connection.”
Before prison, Baughman earned a bachelor’s degree and worked at South Puget Sound Community College, as well as volunteering as a victim advocate for survivors of domestic violence. “After trauma, addiction, unhealthy relationships, and the death of my father, my life unraveled. I ended up sentenced to prison, and for a while I was still stuck in destructive patterns even after I got there.” What changed the direction of her life was education.
“It may sound funny, but accounting changed the tide for me. A woman was frustrated with her accounting homework, and I blurted out, ‘I bet I can help you with it.'” That small moment opened something up in Baughman and she enrolled in the business program through Tacoma Community College while incarcerated and later became the professor’s teaching assistant.
“For the first time in a long time, I was not just being punished. I was being trusted. That mattered. Education helped me see myself differently. It gave me confidence, discipline, purpose, and a reason to believe I could build a different future.”
While incarcerated, Baughman was involved in leadership opportunities, faith communities, Toastmasters, and student leadership. She became one of the first members of Phi Theta Kappa in a women’s prison, and began to understand that by investing in people, especially people society has written off, transformation is possible. “That is the spirit I carried with me into my MBA program and into the work I do now.”
The professors at Adams State supported Baughman by believing in and challenging her and making space for her lived experience in her academic work. “I did not have to separate my education from my purpose. I was able to build projects that connected directly to real problems I care about and the communities I serve.”
One of the biggest examples of that is Hope on the Horizon. What started as a service-learning project through Baughman’s graduate work grew into a real peer mentoring program that she now helps run. “It became more than an assignment. It became a model for supporting people before and after release through peer connection, coordination, and dignity. Seeing something begin in the classroom and become a real program serving others has been one of the most meaningful parts of my education.”
Baughman’s family, friends, and community have been a huge part of the journey too. “Their support, encouragement, and belief in me helped carry me through the hardest seasons. I did not get here alone.”
Baughman recently applied to law school and is waiting to hear back. “That next step feels like a natural continuation of everything this journey has been building toward. The more I work in reentry and advocacy, the more I see that helping individuals matters deeply, but changing systems matters too. I want the tools to advocate on a deeper level, help shape policy, and stand beside people whose voices are too often ignored.”
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