by Vicki Salemi
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Take Justine Maiello. This mother of two from Oak Ridge, NJ earned her master's in healthcare administration at the Online School of Seton Hall with an overall GPA of 4.0. Admitting her professional skills were getting stagnant at home, the domestic diva pursued her online degree in order to further her career when she re-enters the workforce someday.
"You're investing time in yourself and honing your skills, anticipating for the time in your life when a return to the workforce is right for you," explains the stay-at-home mom.
Sounds like a much better deal to invest in one's future than in a shattered relationship like the TV housewives. And, while real housewives such as Justine may not have such zany trials and tribulations as the fictitious suburban characters (shady boyfriends, friends who mysteriously commit suicide, kids that turn to drugs, etc.), their lives take twists and turns as well, deviating from initial paths. In fact, Justine's aspiration of running a small, specialty hospital or small research institution is a significant deviation from her previous career as financial analyst.
"I know that I can't return to my profession as an analyst and still be the kind of mom I want to be," she notes. For many students like Maiello, online learning provides the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills for a career change without putting other responsibilities on the back burner.
That's Kelly Bruns' plan, too. The Limerick, PA mother of two is utilizing eLearning as a means to break out of what many feel is a desperate-housewife rut. Through the distance education program at Villanova University, Kelly expects to complete a bachelor's degree in business administration before 2008. Unlike semi-psychotic Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) whose unrealistic goal is to be a perfect homemaker, the grounded Kelly aspires to one day add small office manager or founder of online business to her resume.
As for the challenges of juggling intense course loads with laundry loads, Kelly is thankful that her husband's involvement has been a huge help, unlike that of "Desperate Housewives'" Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) -- you know, the character who won't lift a finger to help his poor wife Lynette (Felicity Huffman) with their four hyper kids.
"My husband, Nick, has been a great help with the home chores while I am taking classes," Kelly explains. It also doesn't hurt that she can work online on her coursework at night after Madison, 5 and Julia, 4, are sleeping. "Taking online classes is a wonderful experience because it provides flexibility to balance family and work."
Justine agrees. "Like a lot of mothers, it wasn't feasible for me to go back to school the traditional way." Only online classes afforded Justine the convenience of logging on when her son was attending pre-school or taking a nap.
For Cynthia May (Washburn, Wisc.), flexibility was important, but so was feeling connected with the adult world. Cynthia took four online classes in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Penn State University World Campus to supplement her B.S. degree in geography, and to refresh her expertise on subject matter. Many stay-at-home moms admit feeling isolated, which is why Cynthia was excited about participating in a team project. Though the networking was virtual, she explains, the interaction was rich and the connections she made with classmates from other states valuable. It gave her the chance to talk about more than what's new in the pre-teen world (her daughter, Sarah, is now 12).
Feeling like the geography field had moved on without her, pursuing an online degree provided Cynthia with current developments, as well as interpersonal connections she yearned for. Sort of like how Teri Hatcher's Susan Mayer character is trying to get back into the dating scene after a divorce. "I wanted so much to be able to get back into the swing of things, both educationally and socially," Cynthia explains. She was able to achieve that connection through communication with classmates.
Cynthia has taken her educational experience and transitioned into a new career instructing classes in world regional geography, global positioning systems, and GIS at a small private liberal arts college. It's a far cry from her former stay-at-home career as an extension county youth agent, the kind of turnaround one may expect from Lynette, the ex-career DH who left the boardroom to raise her brood (though after her twin boys painted a classmate blue or stole their neighbor's flower pot, maybe she wished she had never left!).
Although real-life housewives are enjoying the flexibility and time management of online classes, they should also expect hard work. No getting off easy a lá Eva Longoria's character, Gabrielle Solis, the model with a wealthy husband, snazzy little sports car, and super-sized house. According to Robert Manuel, associate dean of New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, while convenience and flexibility are advantageous to online learning, students aren't getting off easy. His belief: Quality cannot be compromised.
"At NYU, we ensure that the quality of our online degrees are every bit a rigorous as those that are delivered on site." In other words, it's a way to make education available to qualified students who cannot travel to New York on a regular basis to attend classes.
Without online learning, students like Justine, Kelly and Cynthia wouldn't have such access to furthering their education while maintaining responsibilities at home. Not only do they strive to improve their skills and reconnect with technology and subject matter, they're laying the foundation for exciting, new careers. As if that's not enough, their devotion to personal development sets a positive example to their kids while speaking volumes about how they invest in themselves as quality mothers, women, and leaders.
Perhaps these "real" contemporary suburban women aren't unlike "Desperate Housewives" after all. In control and driven, maybe, but not by greed or romance. Instead they're determined to have their own version of happily ever after, and are taking it one degree at a time.
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