For some fall 2020 graduates, the day they finish their final class won’t look much different from any other day of working and studying from home—they’re saving their celebration for when they snag their dream job or when it’s safe to throw a party. For others, the occasion will mark the end of a very long road, so some proper pomp is necessary. 

Shelissa Kearney ’20, sociology, is one of the latter students. “I can’t go anywhere right now, but I’m going to celebrate,” says Kearney, who last took classes at UMBC in 2014. “I’ll have a nice dinner with my husband and my son. It’s nice to see all of this come to fruition, and I need to acknowledge that.”

To understand Kearney’s commitment to celebration is to know that her first semester at UMBC was in spring 1997. Kearney graduated from high school two years early to jump-start her modeling career, but didn’t want to forgo an education—two of her parents have Ph.D.s, so she knew the value of a degree.

Shelissa Kearney first attended UMBC in 1997. After some educational starts and stops, she graduates in December 2020. Photo courtesy of Kearney.

“If I was traveling for work, I would schedule my classes to try to make it work with some juggling here and there, because I really wanted to go to school,” Kearney says. But completing her degree with a heavy work and travel schedule took longer than she’d hoped.

Early on in her studies, Kearney says one of her biology professors—in an attempt to encourage her to double down academically—said, “Shelissa, at this pace, you’re going to be 34 before you graduate.” Kearney laughs, “I’ve clearly passed that mark, but I finally did it.”

Creating a path to return

It’s standard practice for UMBC to reach out to Retrievers who have earned at least 60 credits and are in good standing academically, but not currently enrolled in classes, says Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, vice provost for enrollment management and planning. The goal is to encourage them to return to finish the degrees they are so close to completing. This year, with the rapid move to online learning, students who paused their education have been able to return in larger numbers than ever before.

Of the approximately 120 students who returned to complete their degree (through a program termed Finish Line), roughly a fourth of them only needed one more semester to do so, and will graduate in December 2020. 

“Our staff have been energized by our engagement in the Finish Line program,” says Ken Baron, assistant vice provost for academic advising and student success. “We love to help students overcome barriers to complete degrees. Many of these students were close to graduating in the past, so enabling them to return now, especially during COVID, is particularly meaningful.”

Substantial online class offerings have been the key to students’ return, says Baron. With remote working arrangements becoming more mainstream in late spring and summer, “many of these students found themselves in the best possible time to return to college since leaving UMBC.”

Finding closure in the last class

Some students, like Kearney, needed nearly a full course load to finalize their degree; others only needed one specific course to get their diploma. Sam Oh ’20, business technology administration, was actually able to participate in the spring 2017 graduation ceremony, but needed to retake one requirement to receive his degree. 

After his father had a stroke, Oh wasn’t able to immediately return to UMBC. In his time away, he began pursuing certifications in Excel and as a data analyst, becoming familiar with SQL coding. After he graduates, he’ll apply for jobs as a business or data analyst.

For Oh, retaking Introduction to Management Science online this fall, has been a “do-it-yourself experience, which I love.” 

His advice for other students, who might be going through something similar to him in 2017: “Be honest and inform your current professors in advance. Based on my personal experience, most of them will be willing to give you extensions on your assignments or may even exempt whatever is due at the time based on the circumstances.”

And even though Oh has already had the Commencement experience, he says, “I will without doubt have a sense of closure after I finish my final exam next week.” 

Overcoming the final obstacle

Steven Heckman is another student only one class shy of graduation. A computer science major, Heckman was held up by the final language credit he was completing abroad in summer 2019. “Unfortunately, I got sick and other things happened that didn’t allow me to earn a grade I could transfer back to UMBC,” says Heckman.

Stymied by this language requirement, Heckman says he wasn’t initially eager to return to finish his degree, but his parents encouraged him to think about how much work he had already completed to get this far in his studies. 

Heckman, left, with the UMBC Game Development Club in spring 2019. Photo courtesy of Heckman.

The process was more straightforward than he expected.“Coming back to school now has let me take the class online, and not have to commute,” says Heckman. Plus, he says, the asynchronous format of Japanese 201—his final class—is better suited for him as someone with ADD to be able to review the material at his own pace. 

Heckman sees the increased online offerings, along with the detailed Blackboard calendars and other tools instructors are making use of now, as essential for reaching students who might not excel in the traditional lecture hall environment.

Looking back at his years at UMBC, he cites lecturer Kalman Nanes as particularly forward-thinking in making course resources available online. Nanes, who taught him linear algebra, took the time to record and post his lectures for students. “As someone who loses attention easily, the extra effort Professor Nunes put into his class not only made it easier for me to learn, but he also made me care about a new subject.” 

Expanding access

Ken Baron agrees with Heckman’s assessment that online accessibility will benefit the entire campus community. “I believe we have learned considerably, during a remarkably short period,” says Baron, “how powerful online courses are regarding the needs of our student population.” 

Whatever life looks like on campus after a vaccine is widely available, he continues, “we believe our Finish Line students are a successful case study, clearly demonstrating the need for a mix of instructional options as we move into the post-COVID era.”

An achievement at any stage

Christopher Lee, a UX content strategist for Facebook, and a Finish Line student completing his final class at UMBC, says the chance to participate in class while still engaged in his professional life has been rewarding. 

The perceived stigma of returning to college to finish his degree kept Lee away longer than he planned. Headshot courtesy of Lee.

“Having been a working professional for seven years at this point, I’ve spent more time in the ‘real world’ than in undergrad,” he says. “I understand how the world works in a deeper, more nuanced way. My experiences inform my perspectives on the topics we discussed in class, and I’m better equipped to articulate them now.”

As someone who began his academic experience more than a decade ago, Lee, a psychology major, says it took him too long to return to finish his degree. 

“At first, I believed I would feel like it was a stigma, since it felt like an achievement I should’ve completed years ago,” he shares. “Thankfully, I got over that, and focused on the fact that my journey is uniquely my own, and it likely wouldn’t matter to my professor and classmates. Turns out, it didn’t.”

“A necessary step”

Shelissa Kearney is now a children’s book author. Her book I Wish, published in January 2020, focuses on not comparing yourself to others. As someone who is finishing up a 20-year journey to receive her degree, Kearney wants to celebrate the value of each person’s unique experience.

Kearney poses with a copy of her book I Wish, published in 2020. Photo courtesy of Kearney.

“For me, this last semester has been a shining star in the dark sky of this year,” says Kearney. “This has been a really long process, and it’s my personal goal to finish. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but for me, this was a necessary step to complete.”

In addition to her end-of-school celebration, Kearney whole-heartedly looks forward to attending an in-person graduation ceremony, when it’s safe to hold one. Since she graduated high school early, she has never experienced walking across the stage, shaking hands with professors, and sharing those celebratory moments with family. 

“This will be my first one,” says Kearney, “and I definitely plan to be there.”

Banner image: Balloons outside of the UMBC Event Center after the spring 2019 Commencement. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11.

With classes predominantly online this fall, former students who’ve had to pause their studies are re-enrolling at UMBC with graduation as their goal.

When Nick Martorelli, management of aging services, originally stepped away from taking classes at UMBC in 2015 to help take care of his mother as she underwent kidney failure, he had no way of knowing that he’d ever return to his degree. He certainly couldn’t have guessed that his experience setting up his mother’s daily, overnight dialysis would offer him a leg up in his studies. 

Martorelli with his mother, Florence, who goes by Frosty. Photo courtesy of Martorelli.

“One thing I noticed when taking care of my mom—I had to learn a lot of directions for medication and nutrition, sterilizing the room for dialysis,” says Martorelli. “I had to memorize how to set up the dialysis. You had to really be focused the whole time and after doing that for two years, now I’m a lot more focused taking classes, and I can really pick up things more quickly.”

In mid-August, Martorelli and other Retrievers who had earned at least 60 credits and were in good standing academically but were not currently enrolled in classes received an offer to return to the University to finish their remaining degree requirements. Yvette Mozie-Ross ’88, vice provost for enrollment management and planning, says a similar correspondence is sent out each semester to those close to degree completion but who remain unenrolled. But the pandemic changed one key element of their communication—like almost every other attendee, students could now return to school online.

The online incentive, says Martorelli, changed his whole perspective. Within a week of getting the mailer, Martorelli—who lives in Missouri—was signed up for a full load of classes and anticipates graduating in May 2021. The finish line is in sight.

Relying on a great support system

Headshot courtesy of Broderick.

The summer of 2020 started one way and ended in quite another, Kelly Broderick, gender, women’s, and sexuality studies (GWST), puts it simply. Let go in June from her position as box office manager at Baltimore Center Stage due to the cancellation of their season, Broderick found herself facing a momentous birthday while questioning what life had in store for her next.

“It felt like all these universal things were dropping on me telling me I had to go back to school,” says Broderick, who only has three requirements to complete before graduation.

Within two weeks of receiving the Finish Line brochure inviting her to return to her studies, Broderick was re-enrolled and ready to finish a chapter of her life she had started in 1998 when she matriculated at Towson University immediately following high school. Broderick eventually left school to work, creating a career in retail and eventually box office management. When she first arrived at UMBC in 2012, it was as an adult learner and she worked to make a place for herself at UMBC, especially through spearheading adult scholars programming at the Women’s Center.

Throughout the process of getting signed up for classes, Broderick reached out to her old contacts in GWST and to Jess Myers, director of the Women’s Center. “She really helped me out,” says Broderick. “She helped me find a small scholarship that assisted with books and other necessities. This process is just reminding me of what a great support system UMBC has. I have all these people that are supporting me in this and it feels really good.”

Broderick with Jess Myers representing The Women’s Center. Photo courtesy of Broderick.

After six years away from the classroom, Broderick says she’s excited to jump back into a learning environment—and receiving one of the senior completion grants offered through Mozie-Ross’s office certainly helped. “Everything has the bright and shiny factor on it again. Which is really nice,” she adds. 

At the end in 2014, when Broderick paused her studies, she was dealing with some burnout, she says, and like Martorelli, her parents were facing health challenges that required her attention. “But now, I’m definitely feeling that new school excitement again, and it’s fun to be using that side of my brain again.”

“A lot of this for me is a personal thing,” says Broderick. “I just want to know I can finish my degree. Although I’ve mostly moved past the point in my career where it affects me to not have a degree, because of my experience, I’m excited to not have that be a hurdle in my future job search.”

Serving our most vulnerable students

According to Mozie-Ross, of the 2,700 former students who received the Finish Line outreach, 123 students re-enrolled. “They have busy lives,” shares Mozie-Ross, “and they don’t fit nicely and neatly into this traditional brick and mortar structure…and so to be able to announce to this audience that just about all of our courses are now online—you’re right near the finish line—they just responded. It’s like we spoke to them.”

Martorelli and Broderick back up Mozie-Ross’s data that the majority of the students to return were originally transfers. “That tells you a lot about our transfer population. They have lives, they have jobs, things get in the way…. When you think about who we are serving through this campaign, we’re serving our most vulnerable students,” says Mozie-Ross. She adds, that women and minority student populations represent a larger than expected portion of the Finish Line returnees when compared to the overall UMBC student population.

“We have an obligation to do this,” says Mozie-Ross. “This is exactly why we’re in higher ed.”

Designing a unique career trajectory 

For Christopher Lee, one class stands between him and his degree, although the missing course hasn’t stopped his impressive career trajectory as a user experience (UX) professional. Now a UX content strategist for Facebook, Lee saw the Finish Line program as the perfect last step to his unique path to his diploma, and ultimately a necessary stepping stone to pursuing his master’s in library science. 

Headshot courtesy of Christopher Lee.

For Lee, psychology, extenuating family circumstances interrupted his final requirement for his English minor. He and his mother were facing eviction from their home when he was a junior, he says, and “I was pulling from a limited amount of time and attention and effort, and naturally one thing had to give. That thing turned out to be school.” 

Even with an incomplete transcript, Lee was able to make inroads in his career. He found his first job through a UMBC career fair and with that experience was able to apply for a content strategy apprenticeship in Brooklyn with the design agency Huge. Part of his takeaway from this training period was learning to understand information organization and see the relationship of different digital elements and the way the user interacts with the content. “You’re really thinking through the psychology of how people are internalizing information,” explains Lee.

Now enrolled in his final class, Public Speaking and Democratic Participation, Lee says the online format has some surprisingly successful aspects. The small group discussions in Blackboard Collaborate are often robust, says Lee, wryly noting that they have quite the current material to be working with this semester. In addition to no end of discussion topics, Lee shares that the class “has created an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their perspectives.”

At UMBC, Lee continues, “there has been no lack of people who have been supportive, who have seen the potential in me when at times it was unrealized or unseen by others. There was always a genuine concern for my well-being.”

Everyone has their own path

For Briana Lucia Capuano, social work,the online option to finish her two final degree requirements has not only made graduating while caring for her four children a possibility, it also saved her four hours of a daily commute when she was attending classes at UMBC and living in southern Maryland. 

Capuano’s last semester was in spring 2019, when she found out she was pregnant with her son Lucca. “This exciting development for our family,” says Capuano, “meant that I would be taking another year away from school to care for him.”

Capuano with her son, Lucca. Photo courtesy of Capuano.

Sharing a house during the pandemic with two school-aged children, a toddler, Lucca—who is almost one now—and a working spouse hasn’t been easy, says Capuano. “I honestly didn’t believe I’d ever get to the end, but with COVID-19 and more classes offered online, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finish up with all I have going on.”

“If there’s one piece of advice I could give any student in college,” shares Capuano, “it’s that everyone has a different path, so don’t compare your progress to anyone else’s. Just go at your own speed, and stay positive because your goals are achievable.”

Understanding what’s at stake

Lee summarizes the Finish Line program best: “We’re growing and expanding our understanding of what it means to be successful. Despite the fact that I took a slightly different pathway to where I’m headed, and someone else might take a less winding route—I’m glad there’s a system at UMBC to support that.” 

Martorelli with his father, Salvatore, on campus several years ago. Photo courtesy of Martorelli.

From an institutional perspective, Mozie-Ross sees so much value in having students with a range of life experience participating in the classroom experience. “I think they set the tone, and they set the standards for the academic experience because they are far more focused and grateful for the opportunity to further their education.”

Martorelli agrees with Mozie-Ross’s assessment. As a long-term caretaker, the perspective he brings to his management of aging services courses is not a hypothetical case study—it’s truly a matter of life or death. This cohort of students, emphasizes Mozie-Ross, understands that there’s something at stake.

In 2019, UMBC and the University of Baltimore were designated as Maryland’s first “age-friendly” universities for supporting non-traditionally aged students. The Finish Line program is another way UMBC is upholding its promise to encourage and advocate for students wherever they are on life’s continuum. 

“It speaks to the work we’re doing to meet these diverse populations of students where they are,” concludes Mozie-Ross. “The fact is that their lives may have required that they disrupt their education for a little bit, but we’ve…leveraged this moment in time, during COVID-19, when most of our classes are online, and gone out and pulled them back in.”

*****

Interested in pursuing your degree at UMBC or returning to your studies here? Visit our undergraduate admissions page to learn more.

Header image taken in 2018 by Marlayna Demond ’11.