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Going to school as a working adult can involve late nights, early mornings and the occasional missed event. These five ���۴�ý students — all of whom earned a place on the January 2026 Dean’s List or President’s List — prove success is worth the effort. Find out how they thrived while juggling both school and life. 

The definition of student success is a little slippery. For some it can mean completing a degree program after years of study. For others it might mean prioritizing children or work but earning a degree on the side. For still others it can mean achieving a certain grade point average.

This subjectivity is why these five ���۴�ý students paint such a compelling picture of student success. They come from different backgrounds. They have their own goals. And they all managed to excel academically while learning the fine art of time management along the way.

At ���۴�ý, students earn a place on the Dean’s List when they achieve a 3.5 GPA or higher while pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree and complete a minimum number of credits; and at least a 3.70 GPA while pursuing a master’s. For the President’s List, ���۴�ý students must earn a 4.0 GPA and take a minimum number of credits. (Requirements vary based on degree.) 

With that context in mind, meet five successful students at ���۴�ý.

When Adam W. Bradshaw started looking at schools for a bachelor’s degree, he knew he needed a different kind of university. 

Flexibility was only part of the equation. Bradshaw’s background is in manufacturing and spans more than a decade. His choice of degree program? He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Human Resources Management Certificate.

That shift is intentional.

“I have always loved helping people, whether it’s through onboarding, training or just being a support member,” Bradshaw explains. “I have always wanted to pursue a career in HR, and that has been a motivating factor for returning to school.”

This desire helped Bradshaw overcome his biggest obstacle to going back to school: fear of change. “Going back to school in your 30s can be scary,” he acknowledges. However, the support he found along the way smoothed out the bumps in the road toward student success, including his place on the Dean’s List in January 2026. Everyone from tech support to the instructors helped him gain his footing, so much so that he now anticipates completing his degree in February 2027. 

For Joy Lopez McGraner, the decision to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Communication boiled down to family inspiration, professional mentorship and the courage to go back to school after completing her associate degree in business some years earlier.

There are those who maintain, “C’s earn degrees.” Then there are students like Rosetta Chanel Perry. For her, education isn’t a series of boxes to check. It’s an opportunity grapple with new concepts and grow intellectually. If that means sacrifice, so be it. If that means honing new skills, even better. 

Perry, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, arrived at ���۴�ý because of its flexibility. She says she needed a school that offered academic rigor and consistency but in a format that allowed her to “be present in other areas of my life.”

The experience surpassed what she envisioned. She loves sharing a virtual classroom with other adults who can offer real-world experience and perspectives. “These perspectives create a richer learning environment that connects theory and practice,” she explains.

In return, she’s developed skills she didn’t know she needed. Time management, for example, has required her to step up her self-discipline and organizational prowess.

Perry anticipates completing her program in 2026. For her, student success isn’t just making the President’s List (which she did in January 2026). It’s about committing herself to using her education to “create real impact.” As she puts it: “For me, earning this degree represents growth, resilience and a commitment to lifelong learning.”

Linda Rocha doesn’t have time for distractions. As a wife and mother expecting her fourth child, and as a full-time employee of an insurance company, she has to make every hour of the day work for her if she’s to get everything done. To add an undergraduate degree program into an already full schedule might seem foolhardy — and yet Rocha has gone beyond simply making it work. She’s earned a place on the Dean’s List in January 2026 while doing so.

Rocha is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and the online format at ���۴�ý means she can still work and parent as she always does. Still, there are times she has to take a step back.

Rocha has learned to manage her time as effectively as a five-star general, and this has contributed to some of her student success. Her motivation to maintain this pace? Well, it’s as simple as it is personal: She’s doing this for her husband, her kids and “being a proud first-generation Mexican American” who is also a first-generation college student.

“My kids have been incredibly supportive and a huge inspiration throughout this journey,” she says. “Seeing their own dedication to their studies and extracurricular activities motivates me to push myself academically. They’ve also helped me stay grounded and maintain a sense of perspective when things get stressful.”

For Rocha, going to college has opened up new dimensions of thinking and understanding. She appreciates the “practical focus of the coursework,” she says, and has found the online community to be a supportive resource.

She has also discovered a penchant for critical thinking. Academic writing, she notes, requires structured thought. Beyond that, however, she’s learned to question things more when researching and analyzing topics. “Critical thinking isn’t just about memorizing facts, but about questioning assumptions and developing a nuanced understanding of complex issues,” she says. She’s learning lessons, in other words, that will help her long after she completes her degree program.

Going back to school is hard. For some, circumstances make it even harder. Shekeitha Mechell’e “My Bionic Woman” Singleton is one of those who’s faced some extraordinary challenges on her path to student success.

While pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate and a Master of Business Administration, she suffered a heart attack, the loss and restoration of her vision twice, and the death of her beloved mother. (Her mother is the one who gave her the nickname “my bionic woman.”) She suffered nerve damage from an assault that had her completing an assignment using her nose to type on the keyboard. She completed other assignments from the hospital bedside of her mother as she neared the end of her life.

It’s a litany of tribulations that could easily derail the most determined of students. Not Singleton. “My mother taught me that no matter what life brings, you finish what you start. Even after losing her, I carried her strength with me through every course and assignment,” she says.

Strength, however, will get you only so far. As Singleton notes, support matters too — and she found it at ���۴�ý.

“That moment meant more than words can express. It reminded me that the ���۴�ý truly sees and cares about its students as people, not just as names in a classroom.”

University support presented in other ways too. Singleton recalls how she leveraged accommodations when she lost her vision due to different health reasons. She was also encouraged to take a leave of absence after her mother’s passing so she could focus on grieving. Such overtures helped Singleton get through tough times. It also reinvigorated her commitment to the “discipline, focus and accountability” she believes is inherent to student success at an online university. “You must be proactive and grounded, often working ahead in your courses,” she says.

This was true for Singleton, who faced some atypical obstacles during her undergraduate and graduate programs. (She completed her MBA in January 2026 when she also earned a place on the President’s List.) It’s also true for those like Singleton who are building businesses and holding down jobs.

But the advantage of working while going to school can be the way the two experiences fuel each other. Singleton, for example, has been building a “fashion and beauty business empire,” and she notes that she directly applies her education to her entrepreneurial ventures. 

“This University is more than a school to me,” she says. “It is a family that truly cares about its students.”

Discover the programs these Dean’s List and President’s List students are studying.

• Bachelor of Science in Business with a Human Resources Management Certificate
• Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate
• Bachelor of Science in Communication
• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
• Bachelor of Science in Social Work
• Master of Business Administration

���۴�ý has stories of alumni and student success to share! Explore the following channels:

• Alumni Chronicles: The blog that started it all, this collection of alumni profiles reveals how diverse and persistent the UOPX student body is.
• Alumni Chronicles Magazine: Designed to guide alumni through career trends, this publication also shares ways to get involved after graduation.
• Degrees of Success™����ǻ峦������: Hear stories of professional success straight from the alumni themselves.
• UOPX Alumni Luminaries: Meet the 76 distinguished alumni recognized each year for their contributions to industry leadership, entrepreneurship and community leadership. 

Note: These five featured ���۴�ý students were selected after entering a social media contest available to Dean’s List and President’s List honorees interested in being spotlighted.