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A high-school student who also is enrolled in online college is GetEducated.com's newest distance education scholarship winner.
Megan McConnell, 17, of Montgomery, AL, hopes to become a sign language interpreter for deaf schoolchildren. She is taking online college classes through Troy University's new Accelerate program, while finishing her senior year of high school at Prattville Christian Academy.
Megan has been awarded a $1,000 GetEducated.com Excellence in Online Education Scholarship. She is working toward her bachelor's degree in interpreter training at Troy, an Alabama-based school that offers both on-campus and online degree programs.
In addition to working with deaf children in schools, Megan would like to use her degree to start a deaf ministry at her church.
"This is a great need where I live," she says. "Many deaf people have not been taught about the love of God because hearing people do not want to learn their language to tell them."
Megan says she became interested in learning sign language due to her mother's boss, who is the child of deaf parents and whose mother sometimes visits the credit union where Megan's mother works. Megan's mother learned sign language in order to communicate with her boss's mother.
"I picked up a little from my mom," says Megan. "I've always liked it."
Amy Spry, coordinator of Troy University's new Accelerate dual-enrollment program, calls Megan one of the most courageous students she's encountered.
"Megan started out taking American sign language online and, as you can imagine, there are a lot of technical components to a sign language class completed over the Internet," says Spry. "I thought that was awful brave to tackle that as her first online class ever! She did a fantastic job in it."
Megan used a webcam to communicate with her online instructor and classmates.
After she graduates from high school, Megan says she may attend Troy's residential campus, which is about 30 miles from home. For now, though, online learning is working better for her: "I think it's kind of easier —I get to choose what time of day I want to do it, instead of having a certain time."
Troy began its Accelerate program in the summer of 2009. Spry says dual enrollment programs -- in which high schoolers take college courses -- are on the rise, especially those that provide distance courses. “People are realizing what flexibility and advantages online classes offer students,” says Spry.
GetEducated.com offers $1,000 Excellence in Online Education scholarships to distance learning students who meet academic and financial eligibility requirements. Deadline for next year’s scholarships is Oct. 15, 2010.
About: Founded in 1989, GetEducated.com is a consumer advocacy group that reviews, rates and ranks online colleges along the dimensions that matter most to consumers: cost and credibility.
CONTACT: Lorna Collier, Information Services, Get Educated, Inc., Essex Junction, VT. 05452. 802-899-4866. Website: http://www.geteducated.com
