Bryon’s Portfolio: The Story of a Student

The year 2003 was not special in national terms, and at the time, Bryon Quertermous didn’t recognize it as anything special either. What he would later learn is that when he walked across the stage at the IMA arena in Flint, Michigan thinking he just needed a few more credits to graduate, he would be very very wrong.

Even though he had taken many, many courses, he missed a few. By the time he realized this he had already found work as a newspaper report and for the next 20 years he moved up the corporate ladder and moved from journalism to copywriting and then on to content strategy, but he continued to think about going back to finish his degree. The timing or logistics never worked out until he found out about the AODC program.

Fast forward to 2024 and Bryon is on the verge of finally finishing his college degree with a Bachelors of Independent Studies in the Accelerated Online Degree Completion program. And this one will be even more useful than the one he was previously going to get because it includes certificates in Digital Communication  and Data Analytics and Interpretation. A main feature of the AODC program is a lot of reflection on the classes you’ve taken and how they connect to each other. Bryon has always been a nerd about reflection and got a little carried away with how much he enjoyed writing his articles of integrated reflection (AIRS).

Now, with his undergraduate adventure coming to an end (finally), Bryon has been thinking about what he wants to do next. He thought a bulleted list would be the best way to reflect these goals:

  • Be a leader without being a manager in the corporate workplace
  • Pursue graduate study in communication or creative writing
  • Pursue teaching and mentoring opportunities with new writers
  • Be a vocal advocate for non-traditional educational opportunities.