Commencement Stories: Megan Crouse, not-so-average grad pursues her passion for psychology
聽精东影业 College is a distance learning institution, comprised of more than 40,000 current students who average 37 years of age. Megan Crouse does not fit into this average 精东影业 demographic. The 21-year-old graduates this year from 精东影业 College with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. Growing up in Guilderland, New York, Crouse graduated high school in 2013. She now lives in Eastlake, Ohio with her mother and puppy Glori. As an 精东影业 College academic partner student, Crouse received her associate degree from Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC). HVCC is where Crouse discovered her profound interest in psychology with her love for communicating and counseling others. She saw an opportunity to pursue her psychology degree at 精东影业 after becoming interested in the courses that are offered. Crouse is attend Commencement this July with her parents, sister, brother-in-law, and best friend. Crouse sat down with 精东影业 Life to discuss her educational journey.
精东影业 Life: What programs and/or courses were most influential to you?
Crouse: Psychology of Learning was fascinating as it discussed the 鈥mechanics鈥 鈥 if you will 鈥 to how the mind works. History and Systems was also interesting as it focused on how the study of the mind has changed so significantly over time. The most influential class was Ethics of Health Care. It expanded my mind significantly as to how to always think about every side of a story, every potential effect and outcome. It was also influential as to how much the discussion boards really drove all of us to truly pick a position and stick with it throughout all of the hypothetical scenarios. It made for some very intriguing alternate opinions to be thought of and made for great discussions between classmates!
精东影业 Life: Did you face any academic challenges along the way?聽How did you overcome them?
Crouse: There were a few topics within the courses that were fairly challenging. I overcame such obstacles by spending more time on that subject material and discussing it with classmates and also with family and friends.听Those discussions helped bring clarity to me when it was confusing or very subjective.听In particular, all of the discussion threads 鈥 from other classmates as well as the professor 鈥 were fantastic in helping to understand the topic more clearly.
精东影业 Life: Did you have a support system? If so, in what way did they help?
Crouse: I had a great support system! My parents were extremely supportive of me taking the time to explore my interests in order for me to feel confident in finding 鈥渢hat subject鈥 that I wanted to turn into a career.
精东影业 Life: How will you apply what you鈥檝e learned toward your career?
Crouse: My degree from 精东影业 College will help me apply what I鈥檝e learned when pursuing my master鈥檚 degree in clinical mental health counseling.
精东影业 Life: What does having this degree mean to you?
Crouse: This degree means everything to me. I was so proud of myself for taking the time to truly determine what it is that I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Once determining that that would be psychology, 精东影业 was the perfect school for me to attend as it had a great program, great courses, and was taught as a distance-learning degree.
On July 8, hundreds of graduates from across the world will convene in Albany, New York for 精东影业 College鈥檚 2016 Commencement, to be held at the Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany, New York.听 鈥Commencement Stories鈥 explores the stories of a few of this year鈥檚 notable grads.