Taylor Ripley ’25 turned past coursework into progress. She completed Old Dominion University’s online leadership program while working full time.
Taylor Ripley ’25 continued a family tradition by earning her degree from Old Dominion University in December 2025.
Her parents, grandfather, several of her father's siblings, and a cousin also graduated from ODU.
“It’s a whole family affair,” Ripley said.
Ripley earned a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies with a leadership concentration while working full-time and paying for the program herself.
The leadership program worked well for her because she wanted one that would allow her to earn her degree quickly while also offering the flexibility to learn across different subjects.
The choice paid off. Ripley landed a job as an operations planner at Sentara Health in Virginia. She started the job on December 1, finished her school finals shortly thereafter and walked in commencement on December 13.
“I wanted something that would let me get my degree online fast,” Ripley said. “I was able to use all of my existing credits from an older program as elective courses and finish the leadership degree twice as fast as I would have if I had needed to start over.”
Ripley didn’t have to look far for inspiration in finishing her degree through an online program.
Her mother, Lisa Ripley ’14, physically took her online classes at Reynolds Community College near Richmond, Virginia. She took satellite sessions on the community college campus through video conferencing. Sometimes she was the only student in the room. She had a microphone at her desk, allowing her to talk back and forth with the live class broadcast from ODU’s campus in Norfolk.
Lisa Ripley changed careers after 2008 and earned an education degree at ODU, which accepted her earlier college credits.
“ODU worked with me to get the credit I’d earned before,” Lisa Ripley said. “The schedule worked better for me as a working parent than anything else I could find.”
Taylor Ripley’s experience contrasted sharply with her mother’s. While Lisa attended video-conference classes on campus with real-time interaction, Taylor’s classes were asynchronous, eliminating the need to travel to a remote classroom.
The flexibility allowed Taylor Ripley to continue working full-time as a patient care technician at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. Staying in that job helped her build connections, and those directly paid off in helping her land her new career path as an operations planner.
“I’m very excited to have finished my degree, and to have had an option that worked so well for me,” Taylor Ripley said.
Ready to take the next step? Explore our online leadership and general studies programs through ODUGlobal and see how you can finish your degree and advance your career today.
