I’m a military spouse with six children. We’ve been stationed in California, Bahrain, Maryland, Rhode Island, and now Norfolk, Virginia. Until this year, I homeschooled all my children. The four oldest have returned to school this year, but I still homeschool my two youngest. With my husband set to retire next year, I decided to use a portion of his GI Bill to return to school to earn my certification as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant. The plan is that I will be able to go back to work once my youngest starts kindergarten. I love working with children and have a passion to help those struggling with communication. My goal is to work as an SLPA in a school setting during the school year, giving me the flexibility to stay at home with my children during the summer.
Because I am still homeschooling two of my children, while holding down the fort at home due to my husband’s frequent deployments, I needed a program that was fully remote to fit my schedule. Flexibility was the key. As I researched different schools, I noticed that Elms College kept coming up as a highly regarded online SLPA program. When I called Elms for more information, the staff was so friendly and professional, and they seemed truly to care about helping me. At that time, I had been accepted by another university, but I ultimately chose Elms because of the quality of the SLPA program and the amazing staff.
I was nervous at first jumping back into school so long after earning my bachelor’s degree, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the program at Elms. The courses have been immersive and very thorough. The faculty has been friendly, helpful, and professional, and the coursework has been a good balance. I have not felt overwhelmed at all. Instead, I enjoy these parts of the week where I learn something new while working toward completing my certification. Dr. Mary Deyo is an amazing professor. She is very involved in her Zoom meetings, has very interesting and informative projects, and does an amazing job of teaching Phonetics and Phonology. It was one of my favorite classes thus far.
I am extremely pleased with my experience with Elms. Being able to jump back into school, even as a busy mom of six, has been a confidence-booster. I am looking forward to the next phase in my life and my family’s life. I feel like the experience sets us up for better prospects as we look forward to transitioning from the military to civilian life.
Would I recommend Elms College to someone I know? Absolutely! The whole experience has been amazing.
Norfolk, Va.
Speech Language Pathology Assistant
Sr. Kathleen Kirley ‘66 School of Continuing Education
Class of 2026