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Discipline, hard work, a winning combination by Matthew Douglas Public Relations There is a consensus that earning a college degree takes a combination of discipline, hard work and determination.  Three MUSC employees prove that the combination works. Iola H. Powell, Shirley Smalls-Brown and Virgie Bryant-Green earned their bachelor’s associate degree online thanks to the support of family, friends and co-workers. “Taking a class at night, combined with working all day is demanding,” said Iola Powell, manager of the Accounts Payable Department for the Medical Center. But Powell, with Virgie Bryant-Green, a buyer in the Medical Center Purchasing Department, and Shirley Smalls-Brown, an administrative assistant, hung in there and won their hard-earned prize—a bachelor’s associate degree from American InterContinental University (AIU) Online. “The three of us really had to help each other out.  If one of us started struggling in a subject, at work or at home, the others wouldn’t let the other get down on herself,” Powell said.  “I started college years ago, but never finished. I had always wanted to go back, but never had time.” The dream that lay dormant for years came to life when Powell spotted an Internet ad for AIU Online.  “I found out this one was credible.”  AIU Online allows students to take classes at home in the evening – just the setting Powell and her friends needed to achieve their goal. Bryant-Green and Smalls-Brown joined Powell in her college quest, and like Powell, they too had busy lives and little time left for studies, papers and tests. “I had to help my children with their homework before I could begin to think about my own education,” said Bryant-Green.  “Now my youngest son, Randall, a senior in high school, is my personal tutor,” Bryant-Green added.  The three encouraged each other and all three signed up to earn their bachelor’s associate degree online.  “We had the hardest time convincing Shirley to enroll with us,” said Green, “but we kept bothering her and she finally agreed.” While the online university workload demands much of its students, it doesn’t leave student family members untouched.  “We would have four papers due a week, and we usually didn’t go to bed until 2 a.m.,” Powell said.  “My husband had to learn to cook for himself,” Smalls-Brown added. Even through the everyday demands for work, family and school, these three friends and colleagues all graduated in less than a year—with honors. Not satisfied to simply receive her diploma through the mail, Powell convinced Bryant-Green and Smalls-Brown to meet her in Atlanta on Sept. 7, 2002, for the graduation ceremony with family and friends. “We worked too hard not to participate in graduation,” Powell said. “After graduation, we had a nice dinner and relaxed for the first time in a while,” Bryant-Green said. Now they’re back at it again, and working toward their bachelor's degree in business administration.  They plan to finish their current major and drive back to Atlanta and celebrate like they did last September, Powell said. Bryant-Greene and Smalls-Brown say they plan to go on and earn their master's in business administration, but they have yet to convince Powell. As much convincing as she did to enlist her friends in a quest for college, “I’m done with school,” Powell said. The three friends, co-workers and now classmates agree that without the support of their supervisors at MUSC the degree they earned would not have been possible. “The support around us was tremendous,” Bryant-Greene said.   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.