My name is Wincy Ann Fisher and I was born and raised in Catawba County of North Carolina. I’m currently living in Colorado Springs, Colorado with my loving husband and daughter. Aside from my native state of North Carolina and my current state of Colorado, I’ve also lived in South Korea where I began my first real job as a soldier and upstate New York where I met my husband when stationed there. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, practicing yoga, reading, and beach trips. Although, spending quality time with my family is what I value most of all because my life with family has been extraordinary and time spent apart from them has been difficult. My family has been such an encouraging support system for my choices in life and have been my primary motivation for achieving excellence in everything I pursue.
A few of my proudest professional, educational, and personal accomplishments have been serving in the U.S. Army, earning my undergraduate degree, and starting my own family. I was the first in my family to join the military. Serving in the Army allowed me to be part of something greater than myself, afforded me the opportunity to pursue my education, and provided me with a diversified background in career and culture. I trained to become a Human Resources Specialist with the intention of gaining general skills that would help me in the civilian work sector later on. After four years serving in the U.S. Army, I completed the bulk of my Bachelor of Science in Psychology in under two years online with UMUC while also being the first in my family to complete college. I met my husband in the latter part of my military career and since then we have completed our undergraduate degrees and became new parents to our first daughter whom we adore. I am now a homemaker and full-time graduate student. The opportunity to stay at home to care for my daughter and pursue my education further is a dream come true. I feel these accomplishments speak to my character as they demonstrate my educational ambition, loyalty to my country, and core values of family. My previous military profession afforded me the opportunity to attend college through educational benefits, but distance education particularly made it possible for me to pursue my undergraduate and graduate degree for many reasons. Considering the coverage of GI Bill benefits, my status as a military spouse, and my personal strengths and weaknesses, an online learning forum was my best option. First, my benefits only covered a certain amount of time, not classes, so I could take more classes simultaneously in shorter semesters. If I had chosen to pursue my education on-campus, I would not even be able to afford a bachelor’s degree. Second, distance education allowed me to stay at home with my family without the worry of having to switch degree plans or universities when the military stationed us somewhere else. Third, e-learning seemed to be the ideal learning environment for my specific learning styles and challenges. More specifically, I am a more successful student online than in class because I can control my environment more to limit distractions and focus on learning spatially and linguistically. Put simply, e-learning has enabled me to pursue my education further than I could have ever imagined through consolidating my classes to maximize my military benefits and providing convenience for my personal learning preferences and lifestyle. Further reflecting on my educational and professional interests, I am currently in the pursuit of a Distance Education and E-Learning Master’s Degree with UMUC to begin a new career in education. During my undergraduate studies, I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with UMUC with my motivation being to help others. Even though the rewarding journey gave me excellent insight into the needs of those suffering from psychological impairments, I had taken some time off while pregnant before starting my graduate studies which allowed me to grow as a person and reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses. I chose this particular program because distance education in the online forum is rapidly becoming more popular and has been such a life-changing experience for me. I also chose to pursue this graduate degree, because I felt the career path would be more suitable to my personality and passion and enable me to help a larger group of people that I can relate to on a personal level as well. My goals for this program are to achieve excellent grades, gain extensive knowledge, grow personally, and graduate within two years to ensure I have promising credentials to start my new career in the education industry. Professionally, I envision initially coordinating distance education programs and eventually managing and developing distance education programs that will benefit students in their e-learning pursuit. I am confident that combining my personal, professional, and educational experiences will ultimately provide promising credentials necessary to help the most people possible in the future. |
Academic Achievements
Dean's List (2014, 2015)
BS in Psychology (2016) Academic Goals
MDE (2018-2019)
Professional Experience
U.S. Army Human Resources (2009-2013)
Professional Goals
Short-Term:
Coordinate DE Programs Long-Term: Lead and Develop DE Programs |