As a supply chain management professional, Crystal Wilson knows the importance of planning and organizing in order to ensure a project’s success.
So, it should probably come as no surprise that Wilson placed the same emphasis on logistics when she decided to pursue a graduate degree.
“I’m a single mom, I have three children and I work full time – I have a really demanding job,” said Wilson, of Concord, N.C. “I needed something that could work around my schedule.”
She found the answer at Florida Tech, where she enrolled in the Master of Business Administration program, offered 100% online.
“And it’s really been perfect because the way Florida Tech has designed the degree program is really true to life,” Wilson said. “I have a position where I work with people all over the world, and at Florida Tech your professor could be in another continent … and your fellow students are somewhere else. You have the same challenges.
“So, I really appreciated that aspect of it because I could really apply it to my personal and professional life,” she said.
Wilson received her diploma in 2013, joining more than 1,000 online and campus-based students from dozens of nations at commencement ceremonies at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
“I want to venture out into managing people more and doing more work globally,” she said of her professional aspirations. “I felt like an MBA would make me more competitive to be able to achieve those goals.”
Although juggling school, career and family took “a lot of hard work,” Wilson was inspired by her children.
“They were my motivation,” she said. “I do it all for them.”
As for others considering undertaking a similar journey, Wilson offered some simple advice.
“I would encourage anyone who thinks that they don’t have the time, or that they just can’t do it, to take it one day at a time and to go for it,” she said. “Just do it.”
