Stephanie Falk, BA
Stephanie Falk has overcome more challenges than most adult learners who juggle their family responsibilities and careers while completing their college education.
She also had to learn to walk again. So when Falk, of Riverside, Pa., steps onto the stage to accept her college diploma this week, her triumph will be two-fold. Falk was nearly killed in a car accident over 10 years ago. During her long recovery, she developed an interest in healthcare and helping others that became an inspiration for her decision to finish her college degree.
“For six months after my release from the hospital, I was confined to a wheelchair. It took another year of intensive physical therapy in order to walk again on my own,” recalled Falk, who suffered from a host of serious injuries and valiantly struggled to regain even basic skills. “Once I was well enough, I enrolled in a nursing program at a local community college. Though I excelled in the program, I discovered that the accident left me with physical limitations which prevented me from keeping up with the demands of nursing.”
Undeterred, Falk focused her studies instead on the psychological aspects of healing and enrolled at Thomas Edison State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
“I was determined to help people because I saw firsthand how incredible it is to know that every day you go to work, you make a difference in the life of someone who might desperately need it,” she said. “Although I still have physical limitations, I am happy to be alive and the degree will give me more leverage to use my experience to help others. As cliché as it might sound, I believe that I am still here for a reason, and that reason is to help others.”
Falk, now a therapeutic technician for Keystone Human Services in Sunbury, Pa., provides therapy to children with autism as well as abused and behaviorally-challenged children.
“Without the option of Thomas Edison State University, I would not have been able to complete college and I am very grateful for the opportunity,” she said.
Falk, who lives with her husband, Matthew, and children, Connor and Kellen, joined approximately 375 graduates from 26 states and Saudi Arabia who traveled to the War Memorial in Trenton, N.J. to accept their diplomas at the University’s 37th Annual Commencement ceremony, on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009.
The University awarded more than 2,500 degrees in 2009 and has awarded more than 34,000 degrees since it began providing flexible, high-quality, collegiate learning opportunities for self directed adults in 1972.
Toni M. Terry, BA