A Comeback 20 Years in the Making

In 2020, Marcy Wilson (BS business administration ’23, Purdue Global) had just started her comeback.

“It was a decision that was 20 years in the making,” she says. “Life changed a long time ago — I’d ended up divorced and relocated back home from across the country. I was OK, but I never got to finish my bachelor’s degree.”

She enjoyed her career doing work on grants, which she began after she left her schooling behind. But because it was contract-based work, Wilson felt the weight of job instability. Now that her children were older, however, she saw an opportunity to change that.

“I said to myself, ‘I’m going to finish this,’” she says.

The timing of her comeback was cemented shortly after getting started, when she was offered a promotion — with conditions.

“I was told that I was being promoted to operations manager over the whole organization, but I had to finish my bachelor’s degree,” she says. “It was great to tell them I was already in the process!”

But a year into her coursework with Purdue Global, the unthinkable happened. Her son, Nick, died suddenly at the age of 25.

“Losing a child, your life just feels like it’s over,” she says. “It was a month before his 26th birthday. I really didn’t think I’d come back and finish my degree.”

The stakes were higher than they’d ever been.

Game-Changing Support

She took a term off to grapple with the loss of her son, and the idea of going back felt impossible. But a small voice inside told her it wasn’t over.

“There was something in me that just kept saying I needed to go back,” she says. “I feel like it was my son telling me, ‘Go back, Mom. Finish your degree.’”

All the support she needed was waiting for her when she returned.

“One of the things that impacted my experience the most was the faculty. They checked on me, asked how I was doing. You don’t get that personal touch anywhere else. They don’t just care about your grades. They care about you as a person,” she says.

One professor in particular made all the difference.

“I still keep in touch with one of my instructors, Dr. Sherry Todd,” she says. “She was my champion then and she’s still my champion. With her, I had someone to say, ‘I’ve got you; we’re going to get through this.’”

Ultimately, once her professors helped her regain her footing, the actual work toward her long-awaited bachelor’s degree became the thing that helped her process her grief.

“I remember that first term after I went back, I could feel him with me when I was doing my assignments, taking tests. Whatever I was doing, he was with me,” she says. “That was the closest I felt to him after I lost him — when I was sitting there, doing my schoolwork.”

Boosted by the support she found with Purdue Global and holding the memory of her son close, Wilson finished what she started.

Marcy Wilson (BS business administration ’23) had just started her comeback when the unthinkable happened. She says the community within Purdue Global helped her keep going. (Purdue Global photo/Kelsey Lefever)

Career Stability From an Online Degree

She had her promised promotion to operations manager, and when the grant she was working on ended, she immediately moved to another operations manager role. Her training in business administration (particularly, she says, with her concentration in project management) made her career path in contract-type work more secure. And it eventually helped her move to a salaried position as an executive assistant at the largest employer in her city.

“It was 20 years in the making, but I did it,” she says. “If I can do it, anyone can do it. Even though my life felt like it was over, earning my degree helped me realize I still had things to finish.

“And earning my degree was a huge one. To get that degree and think to myself, ‘Nick, we did it. We did it together,’ that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Learn more about earning an online bachelor's degree in business administration from Purdue Global, and request information today.

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