Talk about bad timing. After wrapping up a sub-average high school career and dropping out of community college one year later, Dennis Snider realized his destiny was pretty clear. He landed a well-paying job in a factory, and — like 90 percent of the population near his home in rural Alabama - expected to spend the rest of his life doing manual labor. That is, until his knee gave out two months later. Suddenly, a lifetime of factory work didn't fit as easily into Dennis' plans.

A minor injury he had sustained playing football in high school turned out to lead to degenerative joint disease (DJD), which Dennis discovered as a result of on-the-job pains. "The cartilage in my knees was rotting away," Dennis recalls, as were his chances of returning to work at the factory. At 21 years old, he was too young to consider knee-replacement surgery so, uneducated and unskilled, Dennis' DJD ruled out the only career for which he was qualified.

This realization was the start of a six-year-long downward spiral, during which Dennis fruitlessly applied for job after job, in field after field, facing continual rejection due to his lack of qualifications. "I had no special training; I wasn't even able to do any sort of office work. I kept running into dead ends," he says. Despite his mother and wife's support, Dennis' depression increased.

"I was in a very troubled time in my life," he says, recalling how helpless he felt after a total of seven knee surgeries kept him on crutched for six to eight months at a time. "I truly felt like I wasn't going to be anything in this world."

Dennis knew that education was his only escape, but the circumstances didn't look hopeful. "I considered different colleges that might be able to provide me with what I needed to get a job," he says. "But I had absolutely no reliable means of transportation." In order to get to the college near him, Dennis would have to travel at least an hour both ways.

However, this all changed when Dennis' wife discovered Westwood College Online, which offers fully accredited degrees that can be earned exclusively online. "We had a little hand-me-down computer that would barely work," says Dennis, "but I realized I could get my degree this way - a degree and a career!"

Dennis enrolled in Westwood's associate degree program for graphic design, and is currently halfway through completing the coursework.

"I love online learning," he says. "You are sitting in the comfort of your own home, so you're not thinking 'What do my classmates think of me?' or 'Is this question stupid?' You can focus and concentrate on learning." This focus has earned him a spot on the Dean's List each term thus far; he's even been admitted to Westwood's Honor Society.

Dennis attributes much of his success to the personal connection he has maintained with his professors and fellow students. "The one-on-one contact I have is unbelievable," he says. "I'm a very shy person, but I can really get into the threaded discussions. And if I ever have a question or a problem, I can post and never have to wait long for a response - the professors' attention to detail is amazing."

Once Dennis completes his degree, he'll have plenty of opportunities to put his newly acquired education to work. But he won't even have to wait until graduation to get started. "I've already been hired for several graphic design projects!"

By Paul D. Rosevear