NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

5/6/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Distance was not going to prevent Mandi Stachour from earning a college degree. Stachour, a former resident of Leesville, will receive a Bachelor's in General Studies from Northwestern State University Friday. She lives in Olympia, Wash. and completed her degree at NSU by taking 51 hours of Internet classes.

"I had a desire to complete my degree despite a huge geographical distance," said Stachour. "Several of the faculty were wonderful and my advisors along with a number of people in the financial aid office and registrar's office were willing to go the extra mile for people like me who couldn't do things for themselves."

Stachour will march at Friday's commencement exercises as her father Steve Durr, a 1975 graduate of NSU, looks on. Her mother, the late Patricia Durr earned a master's and plus-30 at Northwestern. Steve Durr taught in Vernon Parish for seven years and worked at the Vernon Parish School Board office for 17 years.

Stachour took classes at NSU's Leesville-Fort Polk campus and moved when her husband, Capt. Michael Stachour was transferred to Fort Lewis, Wash. Capt. Stachour is stationed in Iraq with the 1st Stryker Brigade.

"When I moved, I wanted to keep as many hours as I could and graduate as quickly as possible," she said. "The Internet classes offered by Northwestern made that possible."

Internet classes do not usually meet at a specified time. Students do a great deal of their work on discussion board to supplement a textbook. The work can be completed at any time.

"Discussion boards are the most active feature," said Stachour, who is a news assistant at The Olympian, the daily newspaper serving Olympia. "People are more uninhibited about speaking their mind when they aren't face to face. You get a better understanding than in class because there is so much more time for discussion."

According to Stachour, the idea Internet classes are easier than traditional face-to-face classes is not true.

"I spent a lot more time working on my Internet classes than for face-to-face classes," she said. "I was forced to learn more because there wasn't a faculty member there to tell you what was on a test. I had to read everything in the textbook and on the discussion board. You can't wait until the last minute to do your work.

"I learned a lot more this way. Internet classes are good for someone who is mature and focused on getting a degree."

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