The story's all too familiar. A promising young woman leaves college to raise and support her children, just when her dream career is within reach. Too often, as satisfying as raising a family is, her ambitions are derailed.
Teresa Lewis is a proud 46-year-old single mother of four children who refused to give up on her dream of becoming a criminal defense attorney. Nearly three decades after leaving school, she found a way to go back that made sense.
Germanna's completely online, accelerated College Everywhere program allowed her to work and study at the same time, taking classes at home at her convenience.
Lewis, a Culpeper resident, has plenty of reason to be proud.
Her daughter is enrolled at the University of Southern California, studying to be an occupational therapist. Her oldest son goes to the University of Virginia-Wise and will complete his accounting degree in December. Another son is working on a master’s degree at Liberty University. And her youngest son is in the ninth grade at Culpeper High School.
When Lewis made the decision to join the College Everywhere program at Germanna, she was working at The Culpeper Senior Living Community in the memory care unit as a certified nursing assistant. She recently moved to the healthcare/rehab department as a CNA.
After she graduated from Liberty High School in 1995, she was attending Northern Virginia Community College and taking classes, inching her toward her dreams.
Germanna’s College Everywhere program allows students to complete their two-year degree completely online in just one year.
Naturally, Teresa had doubts about returning to college nearly 30 years after dropping out. Could she do it? Would the accelerated program be too difficult?
“College Everywhere exceeded my expectations,” she says.
But the fast pace was a challenge.
She’s transferring to Liberty University to earn her bachelor’s degree. She’ll be majoring in Criminal Investigation with a minor in pre-law.
"College Everywhere helped me prepare, if not over-prepare,” she says. “I’ll be going straight into my major and minor.”