Colorado Mountain College student pursues degree while living in Iceland
When Jessica Atkin’s husband, a 2008 graduate of Colorado Mountain College in Dillon, was accepted to a master’s program abroad last year, she didn’t let it stop her own pursuit of a college degree. The 29-year old Atkins now continues her education through CMC’s Online Learning, all the way from Iceland.
Though she is planning to narrow down her academic path to pursue an associates degree in biology or physics, Atkins has delighted in a wide variety of online classes she’s taken to date. She describes how she has enjoyed core classes and electives from Interpersonal Communication to Intro to Film Art, equally.
“It’s impossible to name a favorite class as each one has reinforced, renewed, enlightened and inspired various aspects of my intellect,” says Atkins. “All my instructors have been great: patient, and understanding. Yet they also challenged me to go above and beyond.”
Asked what she found to be the benefits and challenges of online learning, Atkins describes it as a convenient alternative to the traditional classroom, one that allows “freedom to structure the workload around my personal needs.”
“I’ve learned much self-discipline in drawing my own study schedule,” continues Atkins. “The intense level of reading and writing involved in online learning is often more challenging than in-class studies.”
For Atkins, whose “ultimate academic goal is to be a life-long learner,” Colorado Mountain College’s online learning has opened up new doors of opportunity, and renewed her confidence, while also helping her combat the long, dark winter. “Icelandic winters are notoriously depressing, even by locals perspective,” says Atkins. “Online studies helped combat my homesickness and yearning for sunlight by redirecting my and occupying my focus towards a much larger purpose.”
“CMC online learning has opened up the opportunity for me to excel and follow my personal academic dreams,” says Atkins. “After over 8 years of not attending school I feel so empowered to challenge my mind once again and reach for academic excellence. Had it not been for CMC’s online learning, I would not have the financial capability to study during the 18 months here in Iceland. I would have had to postpone my academic journey another eighteen months until arriving back to the United States.”
By Kate Lapides/Colorado Mountain College