I started school a lot later in life than I should have, so graduation always seemed so far away. When I completed my online degree program at WGU, all of a sudden I thought, “I’m here. I’ve actually done it. I’ve actually got my degree.” It just fills you with sense of pride and excitement to be like, “I finally did it.”

It’s wonderful for my family because they have the opportunity to see how much you can gain from an education and opportunities that can come into your life. It’s fun for my children because they see Daddy always doing homework at night, and good things come out of it.

The competency-based learning model allowed me to show what I already know, prove that I know it, and then move on to classes that I need to delve a little deeper in. It allowed me to accelerate my degree at least a year and a half from what it would have taken.

I like having the mentor setup because if you need help all you have to do is ask them and they say, “Okay, I’m right on it and I’m going to help you. We’ll get you some more resources.” It was heaven having a personal team to get through school—you had someone that was there to help you the whole time. It made me feel that if I had problems or issues, I had someone right there that would help.