Monique Perkins
AABA completion degree—Business Administration
BFA completion degree—Visual Communications
MBA—Marketing

Meet Monique Perkins: Don't stop

Monique Perkins wasn't even finished with her Bachelor's degree completion program when she got a raise from $11 to $15 an hour!

"My employer definitely noticed the changes I was making in my job—I was able to do so much more—and how I was generally growing as a businessperson and they adjusted my pay accordingly."

Monique wasn't always the self confident, driven person she is now however. Battling a weight problem, she actually dropped out of high school rather than suffer the taunts of her classmates. "I started high school as an honor student, but after the other kids started picking on me, I got tired of going to school and became a 'C' student before I eventually dropped out. Looking back, I realize dropping out was a big mistake and I would change it if I could."

For a while however, Monique didn't regret her decision. She had a retail job she liked. At least at first. But after a few years, she hadn't advanced within that job at all. Monique realized she had to go back to school. "My boss told me I couldn't go any further without at least a high school diploma."

Monique actually headed back to high school and graduated in May 1997. If she hadn't dropped out, she would have graduated in May 1993. After getting her high school diploma, Monique went right to work as a volunteer at Metropolitan Arts Complex, a substance abuse center in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan and enrolled in a program to get her Associate's degree.

Unfortunately, she suffered a back injury that made going to school difficult and that caused her to lose her scholarship. "After I had to drop out, I pretty much gave up on everything." But then Monique read a book—Skinny Women Are Evil by the comedienne Mo'Nique and Sherri A. McGee—that inspired her. "I realized that even though things were bad now, I still had control over my life and could change things."

Thanks to an email from an AIU Online staff member, Monique learned of AIU's online and accelerated degree programs. Thanks to a wonderfully supportive and understanding admissions advisor, Monique was able to work through issues and soon became an AIU Online student. Initially, Monique was only interested in graphic design classes. "But then I started finding every class I was in interesting. I wanted to know it all."

Monique started at AIU Online in March 2004 and graduated from the Associate's degree completion program in October of that same year. She started right up on her Bachelor's degree of Fine Arts completion program without taking a break and graduated with that—majoring in Visual Communication with a concentration in Digital Design—in December 2005. She graduated magna cum laude, earned herself a hefty pay increase and relaunched her own design firm, MERE Creations N DeZigns.

"If I had stopped, I probably wouldn't have finished. At the start, I told myself, 'I'm just going to go and do all of this while my mind is made up.' It was hard sometimes, but I am so proud of myself for doing it without stopping."

Now that Monique has shown her friends and family—she's the first one in her family to achieve an education higher than an Associate's degree—anything is possible, her younger brother is in college and her best friend has begun studying for her GED. Monique herself has started a Master's degree program and says she's already thinking about a Ph.D. "Why couldn't people call me 'Doctor?' I've been stuck inside the box for so long, I'm so excited to finally be achieving something. I don't want to stop. It's like a rush. Thanks AIU Online!"

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