Carole Enneking

Meet Carole Enneking

Name: Carole Enneking

Age: 55

Marital Status: Divorced

Kids: 2 daughters, ages 26 and 29

Advice to Others: "Set little goals and reward yourself for following through."

School: Kaplan University

Target: B.S. in Business, 2007

"I race home to do my work," says Carole, a 55-year-old e-learner.

The Florida native has always been an enthusiastic student.

She earned an associate's degree in general studies after high school graduation. She wanted to earn her bachelor's degree, but the self-described "renaissance woman", had other interests too. She left university one year shy of completing her bachelor's degree.

After raising two children, in two foreign countries, owning two successful businesses, and building two new careers simultaneously, Carole is finishing what she started thirty-odd years ago. The single mother is on track to receive her bachelor's degree in business from Kaplan University in early 2007.

She has decided that it is time. Her educational odyssey began at the University of Florida. "I really am a gator," she confides.

But in crisscrossing the United States in between international moves she took classes at various institutions. Sometimes she took them without credit.

"I was just playing around," she says of her studies at University of California at Santa Barbara. Sometimes she enrolled in classes for credit. At Florida Southern University, she took business courses. She realized she was closest to completing a degree in that discipline, so she decided to get serious and pursue it.

Her very accomplished daughters, now 26 and 29, are a source of motivation. Her younger daughter, an attorney, went back to school to earn her L.L.M. after receiving her J.D. The elder, a CPA, earned an MBA, and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in business at Temple University.

"Sometimes I think it's a bit of a competition," muses their proud mother. "My daughters keep going, so I keep going."

They did not necessarily understand Carole's choice in schools at first, she recalls.

"Online?" she says mimicking their incredulity. "They are university girls," she says by way of explanation. Now that they see the rigors of Carole's coursework, they have begun to comprehend.

"People think it's easier," she says of online learning. "But it's not."

She is accustomed to doing things in a nontraditional way. She met her first husband in Florida, and they began to travel.

"A lot of our friends were Peace Corps at the time," she recalls. They went to Costa Rica to see them. "We visited, liked it, and stayed," she says simply. She hired a manager to run the dress shop she had opened in Florida, and the "stay" ended up lasting seven years. Both of the couple's daughters were born there.

The family moved back to the States to settle in Sarasota, Florida where Carole and her husband opened a nursery. After their divorce, the young mother had two children to raise on her own. She worked and traveled and continued to take classes through it all.

Her second marriage, to an attorney, took her and her children to Mexico City where he worked for an oil company and then opened his own practice.

In the interest of her girls, she decided to leave. Their health, well-being, and education had always been her top priority.

Her plucky attitude and can-do spirit helped her make the best of the situation.

"I kept going to school. I took the girls with me to classes. We were able to bond, listen to music, and catch up on the drive to campus."

Her eldest daughter decided to make use of the time spent accompanying her mother to school. In fact, she graduated from high school with her A.A.

Though she waited until both girls graduated from high school to focus on completing her degree, she doesn't think she ever really put her education on hold.

"I don't think you ever delay your education," she affirms. "You learn everywhere. Every little thing you learn makes you stronger."

Now Carole is looking forward to her own future. It may include a master's degree and, possibly, a doctorate in psychology.

The retail sales associate for a tony women's clothing line has always had designs on becoming a counselor. But, she reserves the right to change her mind. She has certainly exercised that right before.

She had applied to a local university and was accepted when a twist of fate caused her to change her path.

In addition to her work in retail at a premiere department store, she is also a realtor. She happened to be showing houses to two executives who were relocating to Florida. One of them was a vice president at Kaplan University.

He told her about the school and all it could offer. She went home and researched it further. She immediately decided it was for her.

Though she was all set to go to the land-based university, "I even had my parking pass," she exclaims, she switched gears and took the online route instead.

"I applied online. It was so easy. There was no running around. They did everything for me." The enrollment process was complete within days.

Before long she was hooked. "I love being in school, and I love doing it online," she enthuses.

"I don't have to drive, find a parking spot, or deal with a bunch of personalities." The ease and the relative anonymity appealed to her as well. "I don't have to raise my hand. And I can wear whatever I want!"

"I use a lot of what I've learned," she says. "It makes me take a look at the way things are done. I do a lot of research [at work] for class. I send out questionnaires to management. I get pretty good response."

She pulls competitive research as well. And she is not shy about presenting what she feels should be implemented. "I'll chat with a VP sometimes about ideas."

At an age when some women are considering how to scale back and coast into retirement, Carole is ready to face demands and new challenges.

"I am always under the gun," she says good-naturedly. "I always have reading to do. I always have homework to do. I always have a paper due."

On occasion after a long day of work, she does need a little motivation to tackle her reading.

"I make little rules for myself. I say, 'you're going to do homework from 5 to 9. At 9 o'clock you can have a glass of wine.' It's my treat."

But for the most part, she is excited by the prospect of learning new things and exchanging ideas. She looks forward to participating in group discussions online and reads each of the responses carefully.

"I watch and listen. I notice who knows what. I can figure out what age people are," she says of her unique vantage point. "Everyone comes from different places. You just add what you know."

These discussion threads have become a valuable tool. "We all add to each other's comments. Sometimes somebody writes something that you disagree with, but constructive criticism is good. That's how we learn."

"This is so multi-dimensional," she says of online learning. It is unlike a traditional setting where there is generally written communication only between the instructor and an individual student. To her that is the greatest benefit of online learning.

"You can see everything. You can see what everyone is thinking. You add to a discussion all week with the instructor guiding it. You can go back and read and re-read it," she says is another important plus. "The whole class—word for word."

She can't say enough good things about the positive experience she has enjoyed online. It has become another facet of who she is.

A friend called the other day and asked her, 'Carole when are you going to be done?' "I told her never," she says emphatically. "Never, ever."