Student Stories

Zach Konstanzer graduated in August 2019 from The University of Alabama with his Master of Arts in Health Studies. He’s always had an interest in health and coaching. He took four PE classes his senior year of high school and then earned his bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Western Illinois University, where he also played...

 

Summer Kervin is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in Family Nurse Practitioner primarily online through The University of Alabama. She’s known that she wanted to be a nurse ever since she was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and had to have major spinal surgery at age 13. Thanks to the wonderful care...

 

Born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, Sierra Smith is no stranger to challenges. In her life, she’s undergone 20 brain surgeries. Her medical condition caused her to struggle in school, and she even had to miss a month of school each year of high school. While her academic journey has not been a predictable one,...

 

Lauren Trerotola was ready to pursue her master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She had earned a double major in her undergraduate years in Psychology and Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. Due to pain and fatigue caused by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), a neurological condition affecting both motor and sensory nerves, her bachelor’s degree had taken an entire...

 

With a bachelor’s in history from Auburn and a law degree from The University of Alabama School of Law, Kate Britt began as a legal assistant in a small law firm in Birmingham, Alabama. She then decided to pursue her Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from the University’s College of Communication and Information...

 

After practicing nursing for 27 years, Lois Konzelman turned to nursing education as a way to fulfill her desire to teach the next generation of nurses. In 2017, Lois graduated from The University of Alabama with an EdD in Instructional Leadership, concentration in Nurse Education – a collaborative, interdisciplinary doctoral program offered through the University’s...

 

First-generation college student Joseph Thomas recalls his mother’s advice to him early on. He was in Child Protective Services’ care due to extreme poverty, a drug-addicted father and having witnessed his sister’s sexual assault, and his mother explained to him that the only way out of that situation in the future was through education. He...

 

Quality is something always on Tyler Morgan’s mind. Tyler works at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, where he’s a senior quality engineer for the Navy’s missile production. His leadership encouraged a more technical background, which Tyler is fulfilling by earning a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering through UA Online. This isn’t Tyler’s first experience...

 

Debra Weldon finished her first full marathon in 2014, and three years later she began a new race, pursuing her master’s degree in Educational Psychology — School Psychometry through UA Online. Weldon is a special education teacher in her school district in Deatsville, Alabama. She first learned about school psychometry while sitting in on eligibility...

 

Courtney Elliott Thrasher was not your typical student waiting to find out if she got into college. At 37, Courtney worried her neighbors might think she was crazy when the large envelope from The University of Alabama arrived and she broke down crying in her driveway. “Congratulations! You’ve been accepted,” it read. “Alabama has always...