More than 20 years ago, Brenda earned an associate's degree in architectural and interior design from Drexel's Evening College. She then used her credits to earn a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Drexel.

"After attending Drexel, my career just went to the top because of the quality of the school I had attended," Brenda said.

She worked as a structural designer and engineer for the next two decades until she left the field to spend more time with her family. Although Brenda enjoyed her time with her family and her involvement with church activities, she decided that she wanted to return to work on a part-time basis. However, every time she applied for a new position, she was told that her education in architecture and structural engineering was too specialized for that position, so she decided to return to school.

"My biggest challenge was finding a school that fit my lifestyle," she said. "Drexel's Saturday Scholars® program was the answer to everything that I needed-a program that could be worked into my schedule and also a format that could get me out quickly."

Along with its ideal mode of delivery for Brenda's lifestyle, Drexel's Communications and Applied Technology program seemed to be a perfect fit for her unique set of interests and talents.

"I decided to go back to school to receive a degree that will open just about any door for me," she said.

The Communications and Applied Technology program features communications that organizations utilize in their customer service, management and marketing functions. The program is tailored to meet the ever-changing needs of industries that are heavily customer-oriented. In this program, Brenda could use her eye for design, along with her talent for interpersonal communication to earn a degree that would offer her a wide range of opportunities for the future. According to Brenda, "The only profession I want is to make people happy and make sure they are always taken care of."

Brenda's ability to apply her new education to her lifelong talents was apparent when she and her classmate, Sanelle Lawrence, won second place for their "Perfect Dreams Wedding Consulting" project at the Saturday Scholars® Senior Project Awards on September 23. Their presentation included a business plan, Web site, three-dimensional visuals and clients for a firm with potential to do business nationally. Wedding consulting is not just schoolwork to Brenda. In fact, she started planning weddings more than 25 years ago on her sister's wedding day.

"My sister was just there crying about her upcoming wedding day because nothing was going right," Brenda said. "It made me so very sad."

Hoping to help her sister salvage what she could from the bad situation, Brenda started helping the coordinator communicate with the different vendors. The coordinator was so impressed that she hired Brenda to help train her team. Brenda said that while the coordinator and team members seemed to view wedding consulting as merely a job, Brenda saw it as an honor to help people plan the most important day of their lives.

"I believe that there are two very important days in your life-your wedding day and the birth of your child or children," she said. "I can make your wedding whatever you want it to be, and it gives me great joy to see people at total peace and happiness on their wedding day."

Brenda has now planned more than 75 weddings from start to finish, served as on-site coordinator for approximately 100 wedding parties and assisted the bride and family for approximately 250 weddings.

"I let my clients know that I am here to make them happy," she said. "If they can dream it, I will make it a reality."

Although she has completed her senior project and will soon complete her degree, Brenda will continue to plan weddings.

"I will always be the one people call on to be part of the wedding. This will always be part of my life. It is such a great feeling just to make someone else feel happy and complete for a moment."

Brenda has faced the challenges of three deaths in her family, along with a house fire, during her time at Goodwin, but her goal to make people happy and gain the personal enrichment that comes with education has driven her to continue her studies. She hopes that other students who face adversity will push on toward their goals.

"Education is very important to me," Brenda said. "If this is something that is important to you, then you can do it. Just put your mind and heart into the books and you can make it happen."

Attribution - Written and submitted by Noel Sarah Dietrich, Marketing Coordinator for Goodwin College of Professional Studies at Drexel University