Avery Misfeldt became the 1,000th fully online graduate from the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s 生物学理学硕士 program during the summer 2024 commencement ceremony.  

A biology teacher from Blair High School, Misfeldt represented one of the nine fully online 2024 summer graduates from 太阳城娱乐官网’s biology master’s program, together pushing the total number of online Biology M.S. graduates officially past the 1,000 mark. 

“I think it's cool to be able to represent the college and the program,” Misfeldt said about being the milestone graduate. “Being the thousandth person just shows that it's a great program.” 

这一重大成就是在该项目庆祝其作为一个完全在线项目的20周年之后仅仅一年，巩固了它作为全国第一个完全在线研究生项目之一的地位。

Nearly 20 years ago, Angie Jackson, now a biology instructor at Northeast Community College, celebrated being among the first to graduate from the fully online program by giving semester tests at Norfolk Senior High School, unable to attend 太阳城娱乐官网’s commencement ceremony. 

“I actually didn't know I was one of the first graduates,” Jackson said. “I knew it was a fairly new program, but the program was organized, in depth, and professional and I assumed it had been running for a couple of years already.”  像今天的许多人一样，杰克逊需要一个灵活的课程，允许她在全职工作的同时完成课程。 虽然该项目已经从发送VHS磁带上的录制讲座发展到在线流媒体，但它的严谨性、连接性和灵活性一直保持不变。 

“It was like a community,” Misfeldt said. “Even though I was nowhere physically close to these people, I still was connected to them. Having that camaraderie and working together was beneficial to getting my degree because I didn't feel like I was alone.” 

米斯菲尔德现在是一个新社区的一部分，因为她加入了杰克逊和其他1000多名在线太阳城娱乐官网生物学硕士校友。