Axia College of University of Phoenix | Awarded: Nov 30, 2008

Academic Record

Term	Course	Subject	Grade
01/2007	COM/120	Effective Persuasive Writing	A
01/2007	IT/105	Skills for Learning in an Info Age	A
04/2007	CRT/205	Critical Thinking	A
08/2007	MAT/116	Algebra 1A	W
08/2007	SCI/245	Geology	W
09/2007	MAT/116	Algebra 1A (Self-Funded Reset)	A
09/2007	SCI/245	Geology (Self-Funded Reset)	A
02/2008	IT/210	Programming Algorithms & Logic	A
04/2008	IT/215	Java Programming	A
06/2008	IT/230	Computer Networking	A-
09/2008	MAT/117	Algebra 1B	C-
11/10/2008	AAIT	Associate of Arts in Information Technology	3.5

By the time I enrolled in Axia College, I was already a veteran of the digital world. I had been programming as a hobby since I was a child in the early 1980s, and by 2007, I had a full decade of professional IT experience under my belt. However, the shifting landscape of government contracting meant that “experience” was no longer enough—I needed the paper to prove it.

The Chicago Reset and a Heart in Transition

July and August 2007 were a collision of my digital and physical lives. I traveled to Chicago for the Second Life Community Conference, having just finished managing a Relay for Life team within the virtual world. The stress and travel, combined with an underlying condition, led to a medical emergency and a cardiac ablation procedure in September.

The “Groovy Kinda Quest” and the Toll of Virtual Stewardship

In July 2007, I was deep in the trenches of a massive technical and charitable undertaking. I had assembled and led a team named “Groovy Kinda Quest” for the Relay for Life in Second Life, an annual event supporting the American Cancer Society.

This wasn’t just a casual commitment; it was a complex project that demanded my full technical and creative attention:

• Interactive System Architecture: I programmed a custom tracking system in Linden Scripting Language (LSL) that managed a scavenger hunt for 18 hidden 45 RPM records. It tracked individual user progress and automatically awarded a digital trophy upon completion.
• 3D Modeling & Asset Creation: Using sculpted prims, I modeled historically accurate 45-record adapters and created custom artwork and textures for the records.
• Media Collaboration: I acted as a producer, coordinating with numerous live musicians in the Second Life community. I secured permissions to use their likenesses and sound clips, creating an interactive “listening station” on each record that sampled their performances.
• Massive Fundraising Impact: This event culminated in teams walking a sprawling virtual track to interact with various camps. As a collective, the teams were approaching a milestone of nearly $100,000 USD in donations for cancer research.

Because I was recovering and had missed critical sessions, I faced a choice. My manager had originally promised company tuition assistance, but corporate red tape made that impossible. I took full ownership of my path: on September 6th, I paid $1,900 out of my own pocket to withdraw and “reset” my classes so I could start fresh on September 17th.

The Challenge of “Context”

For those with learning disabilities, reading academic material required a “rinse and repeat” approach. I had to read through documents multiple times until the context finally snapped into place.

Algebra remained my biggest obstacle. Having programmed since the 80s, I viewed math through the lens of functions and logic. Translating that back into the abstract, the manual steps required for a classroom were mentally taxing. While I earned an A in the first half of the course, the weight of a 3-hour daily commute and the stress at both work, home, and school eventually showed in my C- for Algebra 1B.

The Bitter Graduation of 2008

I finished my degree just as the housing crisis gripped the nation. The goalposts for the contracts I was targeting shifted instantly from an Associate’s degree to a Bachelor’s. The company recognition and financial bonuses never came.

However, looking back from 2025, this degree represents something far more valuable than a bonus. It is the record of a man who has been at the keyboard since the 80s as a child, who paid his own way through a crisis, and who refused to let a failing heart or a difficult commute stop him from completing what he started.