During her senior year at Mountain Brook High School in the Birmingham area, Virginia Winn had toured 15 colleges, and she still couldn’t decide where she wanted to go. None of them had exactly the right fit for her where she could envision her future taking shape. She decided to complete a gap year internship in Denver instead, focusing on community and global service. The first semester, she worked with refugees, helping them find housing and employment while also working part-time as a kindergarten teacher’s helper. During the second semester, she split her time traveling to Israel and Africa, exploring personal reflection and growth.
“The gap year changed my perspective on a lot, and I learned so much about myself. I had learned so much by not sitting in a classroom, so I didn’t want to come back and sit in a classroom for hours,” Virginia said. Still, coming from a community where high school graduates are expected to earn four-year degrees, she wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree to open up the career opportunities for her life, so she enrolled at Colorado State University, but left after two successful semesters.
“A lot of my friends from high school had gone to Auburn or Alabama, and I wasn’t looking for that same exact experience. I’m a people person who loves to travel, and I learn best through experiences. After my time at Colorado State, I began questioning whether I really needed that ‘college experience’ that was so common for my community. I had looked at some other schools in Birmingham, but I didn’t see myself at any of these schools. I didn’t like how they made me feel stuck,” Virginia said.
Then she heard about UA Online. “I realized it could be the path for me to pursue higher education and continue to travel, work, meet new people and experience other cultures,” she said. Virginia talked to her parents about it and they were supportive, so she applied, and was accepted to the 100% online bachelor’s in Human Environmental Sciences.
In August 2019, a few weeks before classes started, she packed up her things and moved to Puerto Varas, Chile, to be an au pair while taking classes at The University of Alabama. “I’d never taken an online class before, so I was a little worried. The house I was staying in didn’t even have a mailbox. But I had internet, so I did my classes in the afternoons while the kids were in school. It worked so smoothly!”
While she was living in Chile, her mom came to visit and they went to Machu Pichu in Peru. She was also able to visit Argentina and go skiing with the family she was working for. Somewhere in all of this travel, she still managed to find time to complete coursework for three classes!
“I learned the most from my mass communications course. Dr. Roberts was really engaging and entertaining.” Virginia said her parents have remarked how perfect UA Online was for her. “They support the idea of my going abroad, but they also appreciate that I’m able to earn my degree at the same time. Now, completing my degree isn’t holding me back from doing other things I enjoy.”
Virginia has returned to Alabama now and is working to figure out her next steps. “I might be an au pair again in another country, but right now I’m hoping to get involved with some organizations here in Birmingham. I’m still figuring out what I want to do with my life, and I’m not sure what it looks like yet,” she said. “That’s the beauty of UA Online. I don’t have to make a firm decision right now, because it gives me the flexibility to complete my degree from wherever I want to be.”
Published: August 30th, 2020