Sarah was almost finished with her college degree from East Carolina University when she was blessed with the birth of her son, Wyatt, and had to stop attending classes. To be closer to family, she moved back home to Shelby, North Carolina a new mother, but not a college graduate.
“I was disappointed for a long time. You grow up being told you graduate, and then you have a career, and you have this specific timeline,” Sarah said. “Obviously my son is a blessing, and he came at the perfect time, but it wasn’t in our timeline.”
Right after having her son, Sarah, 25, decided her life’s timeline was more important than her education’s timeline. Her son would only be this age once, and she wanted to stay home with him. She decided to go back to school when the time felt right.
This year, Sarah decided now was the moment to finish what she started. She had been checking ECU’s website to see if her degree program was being offered online. This year, she was thrilled to find ECU Psychology, a Flight Path program, was fully online and accepting applications. Better yet, the program was designed specifically to fit the needs of working adults.
Sarah is one of hundreds of adult learners who chose to continue their education by enrolling in Flight Path programs across the University of North Carolina System. Developed by Project Kitty Hawk, a nonprofit affiliated with the UNC System, in collaboration with the institutions offering them, these programs ensure that working adults can successfully balance their education with life, family, and career commitments.
Courses are offered asynchronously, meaning there are no set class time and students can do their coursework when they have time.
This added flexibility was crucial for Sarah, who in addition to being a mother to a toddler, was also a full-time caregiver for her grandmother who recently moved into her home. Sarah was able to get her work done while her son napped and after her family ate dinner.
At first, she was nervous she wouldn’t be able to keep up with her coursework.
“I was out for three years, so I didn’t remember what it was like when I was at ECU the first time,” Sarah said. “But the online outline was super simple, and the professors were easy to get a hold of.”
Sarah was just nine credit hours short, and was able to complete all the requirements to graduate in December 2024 through the Flight Path program. This timing was perfect for Sarah, and she and her husband will welcome a second child into their family in spring 2025 and she wanted to finish her degree before becoming a mother of two.
Sarah intends to stay home with her second child until they go off to school. After that, she wants to use her Psychology degree to become a school counselor. This profession has a deep, personal meaning to Sarah. She said that her mother tragically passed away when she was five, and she wants to part of the support system for children who are going through tough times.
Sarah is thrilled that she found an educational pathway where she didn’t have to compromise her family obligations.
“Once I took my much-needed time off to spend with my family and sweet baby boy, I found that my program had finally been put online,” Sarah said. “This gave me the chance to finish want I started and to not only make others, along with myself, proud, but to make my mom proud, too. I know she would have wanted me to finish, and thanks to Project Kitty Hawk, it has allowed me to do so.”
