The day Darchelle Bertrand earned her bachelor’s degree was one of the proudest in her life. She was the first woman in her family to receive a bachelor’s degree, and she had worked hard to get there. Born and raised in the heart of Chicago, Darchelle earned her associate’s degree in science from Kennedy King College. From there she went on to Robert Morris College and received a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in healthcare management.

But Darchelle didn’t stop there. This summer she will be receiving her master’s degree in education from American InterContinental University Online. With this degree she hopes to give back to the education community by pursuing a career in high school curriculum development and online teaching.

Although Darchelle has accomplished a lot in her education, she knows personally that women face a lot of obstacles and must make hard sacrifices when working towards a degree. She says mothers and wives have an enormous amount of responsibilities, which make it difficult to focus on obtaining a degree. The option of online education can make this situation easier, but the student has to be willing to make some life changes and devote time to their studies. “For me, I have been forced to adjust my schedule so that I focus more on classroom projects on the weekends instead of extracurricular activities.”

When Darchelle made the decision to continue her undergraduate studies and go back to school for a bachelor’s degree, she was faced with one of her toughest choices. “My main obstacle was the decision to make certain sacrifices so I could focus on my education instead of having a full-time job.” The encouragement of her cousin and a professor helped Darchelle to make her education a priority and to achieve her goals.

When asked what advice she had for WomenAchieve readers she said, “It takes not only discipline but dedication to reach any goal. I have not always been the most disciplined or dedicated person, but these characteristics have come with maturity and motivation from family and friends.”

WomenAchieve asked Darchelle what inspirational message she would like to share with women who are striving to achieve their goals. Darchelle responded, “Love life, engage in it, give it all you’ve got. Love it with a passion, because life truly does give back, many times over, what you put into it.”