Vanessa is a 24-year-old stay-at-home mom, wife, military spouse, and veteran. She started her online education while she was still in the Navy. After receiving an honorable discharge, getting married, and having two beautiful girls in two years, she is still going strong with her education at Ashford University. She is currently doubling up on classes with hopes to attend graduation December 2009 with a Bachelor's in Business Administration.
When I was attending Southwestern College I was always pretty impressed with the type of students in class for the most part, but of course there were many campus based students in and out of online classes which I suspect this the norm is in most places. These students were very young and very inexperienced in most of the areas and topics covered but they of course tried very hard. I kind of liked it because I often brought a little experience and freely shared with everyone whenever possible sort of like I was the "old head" who had "been there, done that".
Switch to Ashford and all of a sudden I am one of the youngest in class with the exception of a few others and I'm 29 years old! Now my meager experience pales in comparison to that of my peers, some of whom are actually already established and successful entrepreneurs. I look at the work of some of my peers and I see Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y work being submitted which of course forces me to try even harder so that I don't appear as the inexperienced student that I seem to have become. The classes are always full of professionals and adults who are determined human beings which is very inspiring. Just recently I replied to a fellow student's discussion post who is a working mother of 4 and going to school online. Kind of makes any excuse that I can conceive of pale in comparison to what she must endure on a daily basis. I feel privileged to be counted in the ranks of some of these grad students that I work with. Maybe that is one of the differences between undergraduate courses and graduate courses.
Anonymous comments are disabled
About Cajun
Cajun is 31-years-old and currently employed as a Project Analyst for an Information Technology department at a major financial firm. He has recently changed careers after spending 7 years in Federal Law enforcement of which he spent 5 years as a supervisor. His management experience combined with the MBA he finished in October, 2008 allowed for a career change even in the face of these uncertain economic times.
Cajun was introduced to the concept of distance education while working full-time as a law enforcement officer with a demanding and unpredictable schedule, obtaining an Associate of Science degree in Criminal Justice from
Ashworth College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Southwestern College of Winfield, KS graduating Magna Cum Laude and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Organizational Leadership from
Ashford University. To further his new career Cajun will be working towards a Master of Science in Management of Information Systems with an emphasis in Project Management from
Bellevue University.