Student Experience

She Hasn’t Graduated Yet, But She’s Back for Grad School

August 29, 2024 • By Bryan McKenzie, bkm4s@virginia.edu Bryan McKenzie, bkm4s@virginia.edu

Portrait of Anne Duckworth standing in her classroom.

Anne Duckworth is doing it her way at UVA, starting work on her master’s degree in education about a month after finishing her bachelor’s degree capstone – and three decades after first entering college. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

It’s never too late to get what you want – no matter how long it takes you to figure out exactly what that is.

Consider new Fauquier County Public Schools teacher Anne Duckworth, who is 46 and beginning her first year as a provisional fourth-grade teacher at H.M. Pearson Elementary. She’s starting her career decades after leaving college to raise a family, having returned to school through the University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Duckworth completed her bachelor’s degree capstone project just a month ago and enrolled in the UVA School of Education and Human Development’s one-year online master’s degree in curriculum and instruction program.

“I just finished my capstone even as I was getting ready for grad school. That means I’ll walk the Lawn this coming May with my undergraduate graduation on Saturday and then graduate with my master’s on Sunday,” she laughed. “That’s two days in a row of walking the Lawn. I’ll look like I was an overachieving student.”

In some ways, she is.

“I started in the mid-1990s at Virginia Tech. Back then, there was no option for general studies. You had to pick a major,” Duckworth recalled. “I thought I wanted to be pre-vet, so I went into biology and sciences.”

She thought wrong.

“I think the whole point of college is to explore and expand yourself. I started being exposed to other subjects and realized, ‘Well, this isn’t what I want to do, after all.’ And then I felt a little lost in that big school and ended up taking a semester off. That turned into a marriage and two children,” she recalled. “I loved being a full-time mom. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with my daughters, so it really took until just recently for me to be able to go back to school.”

“I feel like I found a home at this school.”

When she enrolled in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, her goal was to learn.

“It wasn’t like ‘I have to take this class to graduate.’ It was like ‘What do I want to study?’” she said. “The flip side of that is it was kind of hard to make choices, because they really offer so many classes that I wanted to take. I could just find something that would help me finish my degree while I explored other classes that I couldn’t get to the first time around.”

“Anne was a bright and enthusiastic student in my classes on World War I and Understanding International Migration, excited to be in back in school and exploring a wide range of topics in her history and politics courses,” instructor Ann Marie Plunkett said. “She was so committed to her goal of completing her degree and she carried a substantial courseload while earning excellent grades.”

While she took classes online through UVA, she began serving in the classrooms at H.M. Pearson, first as a substitute and then as an instructional assistant. She credits Plunkett with pointing out where college and avocation crossed paths.

“She’s the one who recommended teaching. We were talking and she asked about the subbing I did and it just kind of flowed. It just felt like it was the right path,” Duckworth said. “I know some people enter education because it feels like a calling. I never felt that, but I feel like I found a home at this school.”

“After Anne started the (Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program), she took a new job as an instructional assistant. The principal expressed interest in offering her a position as a teacher when she completed her bachelor’s degree,” Plunkett recalled. “I am so pleased that she is now employed at her school and will start a master’s program at UVA in the fall.”

Anne Duckworth presenting an elementary school lesson in her classroom.

Now in her first year as an elementary school teacher, Anne Duckworth came to her career after taking classes she found interesting through UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

The majority of Duckworth’s courses have been online, both for her undergraduate work and now through the School of Education’s program. When she’s been on Grounds, it’s been to meet fellow students for a run and some fun.

“I’ve never been there in an academic capacity. It’s always been in the ‘let’s meet up and do something fun’ capacity, which I can’t complain about,” she said. “I did the typical college life when I was in college the first time, but I did not do a good job with the academic part. Being older, I was able to look at college like it’s something I want to do.”

“I don’t think it’s harder for Anne and our other adult students to learn and study in an online environment,” Plunkett said. “It works well for their lives and offers them the great opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degree and, in some cases like Anne’s, a master’s from UVA.”

Duckworth said returning to college as an adult was, in some ways, easier than being fresh out of high school.

“There’s no pressure to find a career. You can just find those classes that just interest you,” she said. “When you’re middle-aged, no one says ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ You get to kind of figure it out on your own and then a career just kind of takes form when you’re not looking for one.”