Why I Completed My Degree Online
In fall of 2013 I started at Elizabethtown College for Electrical Engineering with a minor in Business. I was recruited to run cross country and track for them which is how I met my college best friend, Caitlin. We both stopped running halfway through our freshman year as it was no longer fun for us. My grades were slipping and my health wasn’t the best. That’s when I found out I had a gluten allergy. I started to get healthy again and applied for an internship on the Navy base in the spring semester of my freshman year. In April of 2014 I found out I had gotten the internship and would start in June.
I enjoyed learning the basics of flight test over the summer of 2014 and was not ready to leave my job to go back to school. I mean I got to actually go on the aircraft and touch buttons as an 18 -year-old, how cool is that?! August came around and I started to get excited since I would get to room with my best friend for the first time. We did everything together, yoga, lunch, dying our hair pink… It was not long before we became attached at the hip. Then there was September 15th 2014, the day she received a call from her sister that would change her life. “No one’s dead yet but I am coming to pick you up.” Her father suffered from depression and anxiety but never sought medical help. He believed his only solution was to take a gun to his head and pull the trigger. But he did not fully succeed in his mission. Caitlin and I visited him in the hospital every day for two weeks until the family decided it was best to take him off the machines. At that time, I dropped out of Elizabethtown college to come home to be with family after going through such a traumatic experience.
Feeling guilty that I left my best friend behind to heal on her own. She was stronger than I. Thankfully, I was surrounded by support at home and she had her support up at college. My flight test team told me to come back and work for them while I figure out my next move with school. I did some research and found Arizona State University online had the first ever 100% online Electrical Engineering degree that was abet accredited. And the graduating class happened to line up perfectly with my timeline. I was able to work 40 hours a week while finishing my degree in the original four years and play soccer at the same time. It was a blessing. I graduated in May of 2017 and flew out to Arizona to walk across the stage and step foot on my college campus for the first time. Go Sun Devils!