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My name is Carolyn Justice Nelson, I am a student at Colorado State University. I take
classes through OnlinePlus and I am majoring in liberal arts. My parents moved to Colorado
when I was 5 years old. And when I was 7 or so we moved to Fort Collins because my dad
decided to go to college and attend Colorado State University. So, for the rest of my youth
my thought was always, well when I go to college I want to go to CSU. And so when I was 18,
I was accepted and enrolled in the music therapy program. And then I fell in love and got married,
and I started taking just a couple classes at a time. And we bought a house and then
we had a family, and then I was taking one class at a time. I thought, well, I'll just
get to it when the girls are a little older. Well, when I got back to it, it was 27 years
later. When I decided to explore going back to school, I didn't tell anybody about this
decision. I wanted to get the facts, and I called CSU admissions office. I was very surprised
when my advisor, who happened to be the very same advisor I had when I was 18, now I was
49, he said Oh, he said, you can take classes online. And my dad had called and said, hey
let's go to lunch. So we're in the restaurant and we started having lunch, and he kind of
got serious and said, I'd really like to see you go back to school and finish. And
it was...I'm getting chills now saying it, because it was a special moment to be able
to look up and say, guess what dad, I contacted the registrar two weeks ago, and I've already
got the ball rolling. Since I started OnlinePlus, um, my life definitely changed. Generally
Monday through Friday I work on my business first. And then I put that away and still
sitting in my home office, I would get out my notebook and my textbooks and log on to
Blackboard, and be a student for the next few hours. A lot of times my son would come
and he'd say hey mom, let's do our homework. And so we'd both bring our laptops here
in the kitchen and plug in, spread out our books and papers, and that was really fun.
I really enjoyed my online classes, and that is I think because there is so much interaction.
And not only are people bringing different perspectives, because they're in different
areas of the world, there are also a wide variety of ages. The professors attitudes
and teaching styles definitely come through on the computer just as they would in a traditional
classroom. There are many many links for you to use as a student. Since I'm not on campus,
and I don't have a roommate to say hey, can you read this paper? You know, tell me
what you think, or if you have any questions, I can send it to the writing center. Within
a day or two, I get it back, full comments, and so the feedback that I get is excellent.
I can hardly believe that it's almost over. Um, the feelings are almost overwhelming.
To know that I've finally done this. I started when I was 18, and I'm 51 and a half years
old. And so I had an awfully long wait to get there, but it's going to be one of the
most special days of my life. "Carolyn Elaine Justice Nelson" When I walk across that
stage in a few weeks, I am going to feel like I have finished a long journey. And that all
of the work it took to get through that journey and all of the people that helped me along
the way in my journey, they're all gonna be there with me walking across that stage.
And now that I can say that I've done it as well, and it will be so important to me.
One of the most important things I've ever done.