Achieving Her Lifetime Goal

For Linda Gendron '12, earning a college degree had been a lifetime goal that RWU helped her achieve. A big starting point was the Prior Learning credit she received from her experience in the Rhode Island National Guard.

Prior Learning Assessment at University College is a no-cost way for you to use what you already know through relevant learning, work, or life experience and apply it towards a degree. Through it, Gendron was able to earn credit at UC for her military training, career skills and other college courses she had taken. She says staff worked with her and guided her through all the different options.

The university "takes all your experience into consideration – they just scooped up all the military training and experience that I had, factored in some of the other courses I had taken over the years and made it happen.”

In 2012, Gendron graduated from RWU with a degree in Public Administration – the same year she retired as a Command Sgt. Major in her full-time career with the National Guard.

Armed with her new degree and her extensive military background, Linda is ready to tackle her next challenge. “I’d been in the military for so long and I hadn’t really ever applied for a position on the outside. I knew that once I was out of the service, I would really need that degree to be competitive.”