2009 Ecampus Graduates

Carolyn Sutton - First to graduate

B.S. Liberal Studies
Beaverton, OR

What does completing your degree mean to you? How do you feel it will improve your life and career?
I will be the first person in my family to graduate from college. I took about a year and a half off from my OSU education, and completing means I can finish what I started. Everyone was so sure that if I took some time off I'd never finish, and now I've proved I can. I will bring this sense of accomplishment and capability with me into everything I do in life.

Why did you choose to complete your degree online through OSU Extended Campus? What did you like about this method of education?
I began my OSU career attending classes on campus in Corvallis. I am putting myself through school and found it a hard place to attend school and work at the same time, there are very little employment opportunities that can allow you to make a liveable wage. I left OSU and moved back to the Portland area to support myself. I considered attending another local school, but really enjoyed my time at OSU and wanted to continue the program I started. The OSU online degree program allowed me to do this. Transferring to any other school would have meant having to re-take classes or change my courses to fit in with another program. I really enjoyed that I still had the option to obtain my degree from Oregon State. I found that even though I no longer lived on campus, I still felt that I had the support of the school and all of the resources that were available to me when I was on campus.

Did you have an instructor or advisor who was influential in helping you succeed as a distance student?
I thoroughly enjoyed Forest Jourden's online psychology courses. His were the most interesting, and he made me feel like I was still a part of a real class where I could be close to the professor and other students. I looked forward to his classes because we still got to learn in many different ways.

What will your Ecampus degree allow you to do that you were unable to do before?
I hope it will open up doors for me in the professional and educational worlds. I have not yet decided if I will attend graduate school, but I am considering it and my degree will obviously get me one step closer to that. I also believe it will help me in my professional career. Earning your degree proves you have the perseverance and dedication to work hard and see something through until the end. I believe my degree will allow my current and future employers to put more trust into my ability to handle any job they give me.

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Learn more about our online B.S. in Liberal Studies.