Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Sabrina, BS in Clinical Laboratory Sciences
"I went in as a medical laboratory specialist." She remembers thinking at the time, "I don't know what my passion is yet, but I will do this so that I can make sure I'll always be employed."
Name: Sabrina Ivory
Age: 44
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: A son and daughter
Strength: Working full-time as a single mom, battling illness, and having to re-take courses because of credit-transfer problems.
School: Winston-Salem State University
Target: Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, 2001
But she always wanted to earn her college degree. Marriage and two children happened along the way.
But when she was stationed in Hawaii she was afforded the opportunity to make some major progress. She earned a two-year degree in Medical Lab Technology from University of Hawaii at Kapi'olani Community College.
She wanted to finish the four-year degree, but did not know how long she would be stationed at Tripler Medical Center. So she had to wait. And plan.
"When I came back to the mainland I had two goals: divorce my husband, and get my 4-year degree." She knew it would take sacrifice and fortitude to meet both of those goals.
"At one point in my life I decided not to be in a relationship after I divorced my husband," she says candidly. "My whole life I'd always wanted to do what others wanted me to do. I was a walking robot."
She summoned her courage and after achieving her first goal she began to tackle the second.
"I set a goal that I wanted to finish my four-year degree before my son finished high school." There wasn't much time.
By the time she returned to the mainland and settled in Fayetteville her son was already in the 10th grade. "I had only two years. I had to go [to school] full-time." So she doggedly worked at meeting her self-imposed deadline.
"When I had kids I knew I had to educate them on the value of an education. In order to do that I had to set an example," she affirms.
Enrolled at Winston-Salem State University, she registered for a clinical sciences program that allowed 90% of the coursework to be completed online.
Students were only required to come to the campus for classes or exams on Saturdays. Sabrina worked full-time and studied in the evenings with her children by her side. It was important to her to involve both her son and daughter.
"I told them either you read a book or you write a paper, but we're doing this together."
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