Meet Scott Enyeart

For Scott Enyeart, the history education program at VCSU was everything he could have hoped for. As a full-time paraeducator and coach, the online student appreciated the flexibility of the program and asynchronous class options that allowed him to complete his degree.

Hometown: I am originally from Long Beach, Calif. but have lived in Bothell, Wash. the last 11 years.

Grad year: 2022

What is your current occupation? I am a social studies teacher and varsity football coach at Bothell High School. I teach World History and US History and I coach running backs.

Tell us about your experience as an online learner:

My experience as an online learner at VCSU was greater than anything I could’ve expected. I think there is sometimes a perception that online students, especially asynchronous ones, are disconnected from the greater campus community of the schools they attend – partly because of geography and partly because of the nature of online learning. However, my experience at Valley City couldn’t have felt more different than that perception. My advisor, Dr. King, was incredible. I was fortunate to have him as a professor for several of my classes, but even during terms where I didn’t have him as an instructor, he was in regular communication to support my academic goals and assist me as if I was one of his in-person advisees. Countless instructors – Dr. Dutton, Tim Michaelson, David Hanson, Dave Bass, Jackie Owen, etc. – made the experiences in their online classrooms feel personal and it was evident that they genuinely cared about my success. Online classes were structured in such a way that allowed me to get to know and collaborate with my classmates too, which added to the overall sense of community that VCSU online learning created.

Finally, I would say that the staff in the School of Education was also incredibly helpful in assisting with making sure that I would be able to meet the requirements needed to teach in my state. Even before I applied and enrolled at VCSU, the education school folks helped me to navigate everything I would need to do to be able to teach in Washington upon graduation.

I think it was my graduation experience that speaks greatest about the uniqueness of being an online student at VCSU. I made the trip back to Valley City in December of 2022, only to have graduation cancelled due to a good old North Dakota blizzard. However, experiencing graduation was important to me, so I came again in May of 2023 to walk in the graduation ceremony. I spent the day before graduation visiting with Dr. King, attending the awards ceremony for graduates, having lunch in the dining hall and meeting my former instructors in-person for the first time. It honestly felt like I was catching up with old friends, as opposed to an online student on campus for the first time.

What was it like to work full-time while going to school?

I worked full-time as a paraeducator and coach during my time as a student. Thanks to the asynchronous model and ability to take online classes through any NDUS school if a grad requirement wasn’t offered at VCSU in the term I was needing it, going to school and working full-time was not as daunting as one might assume. Additionally, as history education major there were several required classroom practicums I had to complete that I was able to satisfy while working as a paraeducator. I was also able to do my student teaching in the school at which I worked, which helped a lot. The structure of the program at VCSU is what made this all possible. I looked at a ton of different online programs when I decided to pursue my degree and my teaching certificate, and VCSU provided the flexibility and affordability that really didn’t exist in any of the other programs I found. It was because of this that I was able to balance work and a full course load as an online student. I was fortunate that my colleagues at work were very supportive of my journey to become a teacher, which provided additional motivation as I sought to balance work and school. If anyone is unsure about whether or not balancing full-time work and being a full-time student is possible, I assure you, at least at VCSU, it most certainly is.