Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Sabrina, BS in Clinical Laboratory Sciences
It was a challenge, yet she was able to coax cooperation out of her elder teen and settle into a routine. All went swimmingly for awhile. But her path to a college degree was about to take one more detour. The university denied her application to graduate.
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
Her beloved mentor and department faculty delivered the crushing blow. The credits she had earned at Kapi'olani Community College, a school that was not regionally accredited, would not transfer after all.
The thought of facing more school when she was already so tired was almost too much to bear.
"It had been a struggle juggling work, school, and especially my teenage son," she remembers of her emotional state at the time. "I was so defeated I went to the zoo. I cried the whole time. Then I went home and told my kids what happened."
Still she wanted to meet her goal of graduating before her son. "I didn't want to steal his thunder by graduating the same year."
She looked around for options. She inquired at Winston-Salem if she could register for more classes to make up the units.
But she was refused. She was already carrying the maximum number of credits. So she found another school. Sabrina enrolled at Fayetteville Community College while still attending Winston-Salem. She carried a combined total of 32 units for two semesters in order to finish on time.
She was able to rearrange her work schedule to make her round-the-clock schooling possible. She would go to work at 5 a.m., leave at 11 a.m., attend class until 1:30 p.m., go back to work, leave at 5 p.m., rush home and fix dinner for the kids, go to class, then come home and study. She allowed herself only Sundays off to spend with her children.
The punishing schedule took its toll. She began to fall ill just before the home stretch. She battled mono, an upper-respiratory infection, and a stomach virus. She was so sick and tired she couldn't rally to take an exam.
"My daughter came into my room and pulled me out of bed by my ankles," she says fondly of her younger child now a straight A college student. "‘You're not a quitter. You have to go to class.'" It was enough to get the gutsy mom back on her feet.
She managed to persevere. Her hard work paid off. She graduated in December 2001 with honors. Her son graduated in June 2002. The experience was more than rewarding. "My self-esteem went from 0 to 100."
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