Gary

Meet Gary

Name: Gary

Age: 37

School: Excelsior College

Target: B.S. in Mathematics, 2007

Gary's day begins promptly at 4:30 a.m.

As a helicopter test pilot in the US Army, a husband, father, and distance education student, he has a lot on his daily to-do list. Over a career that has spanned 18 years, 8 moves, and numerous promotions he has found a way to focus on higher education every step of the way - and distance education has helped.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2001. He went on to earn his MBA from Touro University. He then managed to complete all the required coursework for a doctorate and was working on his dissertation when he was deployed to Iraq. He accepted an enhanced graduate certificate, served his tour, and returned stateside.

The 37-year old chief warrant officer is now hard at work on a second bachelor's degree. He is two classes shy of a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics.

Sheer determination makes him rise in the wee hours of the morning to do homework before clocking in with Uncle Sam. By 6:30 a.m., when many people are hitting the snooze button for another 10 minutes of sleep, Gary is well into his daily physical training with the troops. After calisthenics and running, the soldiers are allotted time to shower and eat before reporting to work. His day doesn't let up until 6 p.m.

"Evenings are for family," the father of a two-year old son says. As he has already made a commitment to full-time soldiering, it is understandable that he could not make a commitment to full-time schooling in the evening.

"That's one really great thing about distance education," he says. "It has no or low impact on family life."

For that flexibility and the time it affords him to spend with his family now that he has returned from the war, he is willing to endure some inconveniences.

For instance, he has had learned that his higher education path will have to take a very circuitous route.

He has taken courses from no less than eight schools in order to complete the requirements for his various degrees. While he did earn his MBA and graduate certificate from Touro, and will ultimately earn his BS, via independent study, in mathematics from Excelsior, the hardworking student who currently resides in North Carolina has transcripts from schools all across America. He has taken courses from the University of Alaska, Brigham Young University, University of Wisconsin, Empire State, Adams State, and University of Illinois.

He researched numerous options, and found one university that does offer a mathematics degree program online. However, the academic schedule was not up to his usual rigor.

"It rolls on a 16-week plan," the eager self-starter says of the schedule. "It would take me forever to get it done."

In order to earn his degree in accordance with his own accelerated time frame, he decided to forge ahead through independent study.

"I didn't need to sit in a class again," says the tenacious student who had taken math classes earlier in his educational career. "I can do it on my own," he declared. He appreciates the self-paced, self-contained environment of independent study.

"I've taken classes with meeting requirements and group projects," he recalls none too fondly. "I didn't like the format. You can't all meet at the same time."

His experience at Touro was the best of his academic career. He conducted a lot of research in the Education Center before focusing on Touro. In the end he liked the simplicity of the application and enrollment processes and the university's track record with serving the needs of the military.

The Army tuition assistance program covered a substantial portion of the tuition, he notes. However, Touro reduced the tuition so that military students don't have to come out of pocket for the balance.

"That was the motivation," he says for selecting that school above others.

In addition, he recalls, "I liked the format. There were five modules. Each module was two weeks long. There were assignments every two weeks which helped keep you on schedule. There were no required class meeting times. And no group projects. That flexibility was very important."

"While I was a PhD student at Touro I was also a graduate assistant. I graded papers and took part in threaded discussions and acted as a liaison between the students and the professor," Gary explains.

"And in return for that they gave me a scholarship that covered almost all of the tuition. I used my GI Bill for the rest."

The biggest challenge of combining schoolwork with soldiering was writing so many papers. "A student is required to write 10-15 papers," he says of his MBA coursework. "Each paper is between 3-10 pages."

However, his work as a soldier benefited as a result of that exercise. As a production officer he manages four direct reports. Together they are responsible for facilitating all the maintenance on all the aircraft.

He also has to schedule aircraft for use. He has to give daily status reports that go up the chain of command, and participate in a weekly maintenance meeting at the battalion level. That involves briefing the commander.

"Prior to the MBA I didn't do a whole lot of writing. So for me the requirement to write actually helped me quite a bit. I'm very comfortable now," he says of his newly polished skill set.

"It has enhanced my oral skills when I have to conduct briefings; and it has helped me plan and execute my oral reports effectively."

When he eventually separates from the Army he is planning a new career outside of the hangar. "I plan to teach high school math when I retire," he says. "I've known I want to teach for a long time."

"Nobody needs anybody to teach business," he muses. "But there is a high demand for mathematics."

Education and training have played a significant role in his military career, and are integral in the successful fulfillment of his plans for his civilian life. Clearly he is a great proponent of education and a source of motivation for others.

"I try to get my soldiers involved," he says. "I am very proactive in promoting education. It's something we discuss quite often."