Monique Lynch

1.

Finances were tight. I always wanted to pursue advanced degrees, but it is tough on a teacher's salary.

2.

Eventually, I was able to pull together low-interest loans, personal savings, and doctoral fellowships to fund my graduate studies.

3.

My husband and I both have strong professional careers and it is sometimes tough to pursue your career goals without disrupting your spouse's career path.

4.

I took a professorship that meant living in a city three hours away on Monday-Thursday and coming home on the weekends.

5.

For a few years, that was workable and allowed me to gain some experience I needed to move forward in my career path.

6.

My husband and I struggled to have a family, and when we finally adopted our son, I wanted to have flexibility to be highly involved in his life without giving up my well-established career.

7.

I was lucky to connect with Walden University just as my son was starting school. Working online gives me the flexibility to be very involved and it gives me access to a current classroom.

8.

This is important to my work with teachers pursuing their MSED degrees because it has been a few years now since I was teaching K-12 students myself.