A midnight flight departure from Johannesburg, South Africa. More than 8,000 miles, two layovers and a six-hour time change.
For anyone, the long travel day would warrant at least a day’s rest.
Not so for Angelique Van Der Walt. She still had Georgia State’s Convocation Center stage to cross.
On Thursday, May 2, the Perimeter College online honors student completed that journey, joining more than 600 Perimeter College students receiving their associate degrees.
The trip was worth it, she said.
“This two-year degree is special,” she said. “It was important that I walked. I’m a first-generation university student, and it’s special to my family that I’ve gotten this degree—I’ve worked very hard to do this and wanted to do it well.”
A native of South Africa, Van Der Walt came first to Philadelphia to work as an au pair in 2020. Her second job as an au pair brought her to Atlanta—and that’s when she learned about the online program at Perimeter.
“When I found out about the Georgia State online opportunity that you could study from wherever that was so appealing,’ she said. “I had never gone to university and thought I would give it a try.”
When her time working in the U.S. expired, (the international au pair program typically allows a two-year stay) she accepted a similar job in Norway, all the while continuing with her online studies. She loved the flexibility of the online program, which allowed for her to enjoy travel and the cultural exchange program in different countries, she said.
But when her mother had complications from a back operation, she knew she had to go back to South Africa.
“I knew she would need a lot of assistance in recovery, so I had to leave the au pair job and return to Johannesburg,” she said.
At home, she got a job with a tech start up working as an underwriter, all the while taking classes and caring for her mother.
Taking classes online during South Africa’s rolling electricity blackouts was one of her greatest challenges, she said. She scheduled due-dates and exams weeks in advance, hoping the country’s power outage schedule would remain unchanged.
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