STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Class of 2023 Features Inspiring Success Stories

Erin Smith first came to Villanova in the fall of 1996, in the same way thousands do each year. She was a teenager just starting her freshman year, eager to start a new chapter in life.

Ultimately the path of a traditional college student didn’t work for her.

“I didn’t do so well,” she recalled. “I had a lot of personal issues going on. I left and it was always on my mind that I wanted to finish.”

She pursued a career in information technology (IT) and has now worked in that field for 18 years with Sanofi, a leader in global healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Even while forging a successful career, Erin’s desire for not just a degree, but a Villanova degree, remained.

In 2015, after a Villanova men’s basketball game had her feeling nostalgic for her time on campus, she did some research into the College of Professional studies.

“When I learned that there was an online option that could end with my Villanova degree, I enrolled right away,” she said. After completing many of the needed credits to graduate, Erin found a few of the classes she needed weren’t offered online. A few years passed before CPS contacted Erin to discuss the final ten credits she needed to graduate, with a completely online pathway available.

Her time with CPS will help Erin further her career, not just with a degree but with a new sense of dedication.

“Being back in class re-fueled my drive to learn. I’m already looking into continuing towards my Master’s,” she added.

Erin returned to Villanova’s campus in 2023 to celebrate commencement weekend, filled with pride and appreciation. “Even though many of us had never met in person, commencement felt like being with long lost friends,” she said of her fellow CPS grads.

The accomplishment of earning a long-awaited degree from the same school where Erin started her higher education journey was overwhelming. “I’m not a very emotional person, but opening the box and unrolling my diploma, I immediately got welled up,” she told us.

When she looks back on the path toward her degree, Erin remembers it fondly, knowing it was all worth it in the end. “The rewards and the feeling you get from finishing your degree are indescribable.”

For Danielle McCollough, the path to her bachelor’s degree has been long, but fulfilling. Throughout that journey, she’s had one constant voice of encouragement in her ear.

“If it wasn’t for my grandmother, I wouldn’t have made it through even my first year of college, but she has teased me about how long it has taken,” Danielle told us. Danielle got the last laugh, so to speak, with her grandmother’s teases motivating her all the way to her degree.

“She’s been a huge support in my life and I can’t wait for her to see me walk (at commencement)” she said prior to graduating.

Danielle’s foray into higher education started 20 years ago at Temple University. “As life happens, I wasn’t able to complete my studies there,” she said.

After taking on a job at Villanova and moving to Bryn Mawr, the timing was perfect for Danielle to re-start her efforts.

After working with technology more and more in her role at work, Danielle felt herself gaining more skills and interest in that line of work. “There was a little bit of a hole and I was trying to gain the knowledge to fill that hole.”

Quickly, she noticed how applicable the lessons from her professors were finding their way into her daily work, saying, “Quite often in class the thing we were learning in class turned out to be exactly what I needed on the job!”

When she started her college career back at Temple or even when she began her career in the years that followed, she hadn’t quite expected to follow the route towards tech or her eventual Information Systems degree, but slowly she found passion for that area of expertise.

“Going back to school for a business degree would have checked the box so I could say I had my bachelor’s, but it didn’t sound very exciting to me. Seeing how tech was becoming more and more important in my job and our lives, it drove me to that as my path,” she added.

“My degree is going to give me a lot more avenues to move forward in my career.”

Just as her grandmother supported her studies, Danielle hopes her time in college can inspire another generation of learners – her children. She completed her degree while parenting two children, now 11 and 7 years-old, both on hand to see their mother graduate in May.

“It’s important for my children to see me continuing to learn. We should all be life-long learners,” she said.