Celeste Goodwin was a stay-at-home wife and mother when she enrolled in an online degree program through New College LifeTrack. Earning an undergraduate degree had always been a goal of hers, but she never understood how she could fit the scheduling and financial demands of school into an already hectic life. Raising two sons, one of whom had chronic health problems, kept her busy, and she knew that adding course responsibilities would be difficult. She also recognized that taking on the additional financial burden of a degree program would mean sacrifices for everyone in the family.
To keep herself on track academically, Celeste quickly learned the value of self-motivation and the importance of setting daily goals and schedules. She knew, however, that help was still needed to lessen the financial impact on her household and began applying for scholarships available only to online learning students through the College of Continuing Studies. During her time in the program, Celeste was selected as a recipient of the New College LifeTrack Endowed Scholarship and the Elizabeth Boggan and Ronald Charles Howard Family Endowed Scholarship.
Receiving these scholarship awards meant a lot to Celeste and not just financially. She also credits her academic success, in many ways, to these awards.“The scholarship funds alleviated financial burdens incurred that made my educational pursuits much more attainable. I never wanted to waste a single dollar graciously given to me. Each time I was honored to receive a scholarship, it pushed me harder to see the end goal.”
That end goal, as it turns out, was not an undergraduate degree. A few weeks after graduating with her Bachelor of Arts from the University in 2019, Celeste began the online Master of Social Work program and plans to graduate in 2021. She looks forward to returning for her Doctor of Social Work degree in a few years and has a message to the scholarship donors who have helped her, and students like her, along the way. “Scholarships make a tremendous difference in the lives of students. Without scholarships, it would have been more difficult to achieve my goals. Thank you to each and every donor that selflessly gives to help students each year.”
