Lifelong Volunteer Fan Earns Degree With Online Learning
Jade Pfiester (’24) has always been a Volunteer at heart, and online learning allowed her to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, while living in another state.
The program’s flexibility fit the busy schedule of a mother with two part-time jobs.
Pfiester already had an associate’s degree when she started the UT program in January 2023, and in about 18 months she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in public policy and public administration.
“As long as you have the support behind you, you can do just about anything,” she said. “I definitely had an amazing team behind me.”
Although several family members and friends encouraged her along the way, she kept her studies a secret from her parents until they arrived in Knoxville for a family trip in May 2024, and she surprised them with her graduation ceremony.
“I have been dying to go to UT since I was itty bitty,” Pfiester said, but a series of events changed her course.
With her husband’s encouragement to complete a bachelor’s degree, she started a Google search that led her to the online program from UT’s College of Arts and Sciences, part of the land-grant university’s commitment to providing high-quality educational opportunities.
UT’s Vols Online program offers more than 70 fully online programs, from certificates to doctoral degrees.
Raised a Vol
Pfiester’s father grew up in Roane County and enlisted in the military. “He has raised us to be diehard UT fans,” she said. “My brothers and I have bled orange since we were born and probably have known every word to ‘Rocky Top’ since we could talk.”
“He always talked about wanting his kids to go to UT,” Pfiester said, but her three brothers also joined the military.
When she enrolled online, she didn’t tell everyone in her family. Although she was committed, she thought some might not see it as a practical choice at this time.
“I worked really, really, really, really hard,” Pfiester said, completing 21 credits her first summer.
“Being a mom and having two part-time jobs and a husband and all of our family stuff we have going on, it’s hard to be able to sit down at noon to four and do classwork,” she explained, so she would complete her school work after her son went to bed.
“You can do it at your own pace. Each instructor does have due dates and timelines, but I’m not required to show up at a certain time during the day,” she noted of the online bachelor’s degree program.
Surprised Herself
When she knew she would take part in the spring commencement, Pfiester invited her parents to travel from Michigan for a family trip to Tennessee, which she told them was a celebration of her son’s fifth-grade graduation. After they arrived, Pfiester said that she found a show for them all to attend on Saturday, and she would get the information from the other room. She returned wearing her cap and gown and said, “By the way, the show on Saturday is I’m graduating.”
Her dad was so stunned he didn’t move. “We didn’t think he was breathing,” she said.
Then her son brought in the four honor cords she would be wearing, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, a supporter of UT with a Senior Impact donation, and as a top scholar, graduating summa cum laude.
“They were super, super excited,” she said of her parents’ reaction.
The last surprise, however, was for Pfiester. When she looked for her name in the commencement program under summa cum laude, it wasn’t there. When she didn’t find it in the other honors lists either, she thought that might be because she was completing her course requirements in the summer. “I flipped to the front and there’s a section of outstanding graduates,” she said, and that’s where her name was.
Interdisciplinary Connections
Five days after graduation, Pfiester left for a UT study abroad trip to Germany during the May mini-term. The Geography 491: Urban Sustainability course is led by faculty from the Department of Geography and Sustainability and the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
“I didn’t think urban sustainability had anything to do with political science,” Pfiester said, but she wasn’t able to take another course closer to her major. “There was so much I learned about human interaction with policies. I was definitely where I should have been.”
Pfiester is now considering work in an area involving environmental policy.
Because she lives a nine-hour drive from the Knoxville campus, her only previous experience with other students had been online discussions centered on the course they were in together.
The study abroad connected her with students in new ways.
“Most of us hadn’t known each other beforehand,” she said, and Pfiester didn’t know any German. As she was trying to navigate catching a train after arriving at the Frankfurt airport, another UT student recognized her from her photo in the GroupMe app they had been using before the trip.
Although Pfiester is a nontraditional student and was the oldest on the trip, she said the students quickly bonded and each brought different skills and knowledge to their time together. Just as a liberal arts education provides a broader perspective, so did the students’ studies during the interdisciplinary course.
A student majoring in architecture drew Pfiester’s attention to the buildings, and another who was passionate about plants pointed out interesting examples. “To see their passion come out definitely intrigues you to want to know a little bit more,” said Pfiester, who’s first interests were the people and government they were learning about.
“It was a great experience,” she said.
Unrivaled Spirit
“I have told my dad since the day I could talk, ‘I am a Tennessean,’ and he was like, ‘No, you are not,’” said Pfiester, who was born in San Diego.
“Something about eastern Tennessee feels like home, and you can’t rival Volunteer fans . . . You cannot rival the Volunteer spirit,” she said.
Pfiester already sees that spirit in her son, recalling when they took him to a football game in Knoxville and he experienced his first Vol Walk. “He was in heaven,” she said.
By Amy Beth Miller