UMass Graduate Shares Her Online Success Story

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Jennifer Brady

Stephanie Brown, UMass Amherst Alumni Every now and then I get an email that affirms our offering of courses online and reveals just how important this opportunity can be for adult learners trying to complete their education. These emails, like the one I will share with you now, usually talk about such things as self-confidence and family pride that also attend the completion of a course, certificate program or degree offered through UMassOnline.

This email comes from Stephanie Brown. She is a UMass Alumni with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree which she earned from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst in 2008. She majored in Marketing. Even though she was an online learner living and learning from California, Stephanie attended graduation ceremonies in Amherst this summer. She writes:

My son had seen the sacrifice and been a part of the sacrifice of pursuing my degree, so I know the culmination of the UMass ceremony was one that also set a precedence for his future as well as mine. Seeing the look of pride in my family’s eyes was priceless and I feel grateful to have had a second opportunity at pursuing my degree through the online format provided by UMass. This was not possible even 10 years ago, and only five years ago, there were very few inadequate choices.

Today, Stephanie is President of Premier Fitness Products Inc., in Temecula, California, where she formulates product and distribution strategies for developing lines of fitness brands for retail and commercial markets in the U.S. Her academic journey began at the University of Hawaii in 1986-89, but, like many students even today, was interrupted with the struggles of balancing work and school; work prevailed. Going through a divorce in 2005 and a single mother, Stephanie pursued her degree through UMass’ online program, one of the handful available at the time from an accredited, established, campus school. “A degree is only as good as an employer will recognize,” was a comment she came upon during her research of online schools, and which served as the plumbline that set her on the course to finishing her degree at the University of Massachusetts. Congratulations Stephanie!

Comments

One Response to “UMass Graduate Shares Her Online Success Story”

Mark Gillard on October 14th, 2008 1:20 pm

Go Steph! I was in Stephanie’s graduating class. I was also her classmate in a few online classes and was lucky enough to meet her and walk with her during graduation ceremony in the spring. She’s in California and I’m in Boston, but we still stay in touch through email and promise to visit each other sometime. So….you can make friends in online classes!

Mark Gillard

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