Like many students who attend Piedmont Technical College (PTC), Stephanie Bohland’s experience in Greenwood actually changed the trajectory of her professional journey. Already a PTC graduate, the straight-A student is back to take a few more courses with designs on a higher degree and perhaps a college teaching career. 

“I got my start at Piedmont Tech,” she said. “It has been so helpful.” 

Bohland, who will be 31 this year, has been attending Winthrop University and taking classes at PTC concurrently for the past year. She says all of her siblings attend or have attended PTC. It’s kind of becoming a family tradition. With the help of PTC courses, Bohland is working toward a bachelor’s degree in English from Winthrop. 

“Piedmont Tech is so ahead of the curve with so many of its programs. People don’t understand what we have here,” Bohland said. “There are so many careers to choose from. Like me, students can spend a year or two working a really good job while attending college. I couldn’t have been able to do it if I weren’t a massage therapist, a certification I earned first at PTC.”

This is Bohland’s third time returning to PTC for additional coursework. “At Piedmont Tech, the schedule is so reasonable, and I don’t have to drive so far. It’s also massively more affordable,” she said, adding that her current path toward an English degree was blazed at PTC. “When I was working on my first degree many years ago at PTC, an instructor told me she had just read one of my papers. She said it was ‘outstanding’ and that I ought to be a writer and get a master’s degree and maybe one day teach English.” 

After receiving her bachelor’s degree, Bohland plans to go on and earn her master’s degree. She says she could actually see herself coming back some day to PTC as an English instructor. 

During this time of quarantine, Bohland reflected on comparable historic events in her lifetime. “This has been a very strange experience,” she explained. “I was about 12 when 9/11 happened. I remember very well how we came together as a country to take united actions with bipartisan cooperation. That was really wonderful to see.” She sees evidence of similar unity taking place during the COVID-19 crisis.

“My reaction to the coronavirus is surprise but also hope,” she said. “It is possible to come together on something.”

Bohland is optimistic about the future and looks forward to continuing her education as a high-achieving transfer to Winthrop.

“I am off-the-chain excited about school and next semester. There are so many times PTC has put me on the path to where I needed to be,” she said. “I love Piedmont Tech. I think it’s an awesome place.”

Piedmont Technical College offers a wide range of online courses each summer that can satisfy the general education requirements at a student’s home college or university. Learn more at www.ptc.edu/summersavings. 

PHOTOS:

• A travel lover, Stephanie Bohland on a visit in Spain. 
• Sisters Stephanie Bohland (center) with her sisters, Megan Bohland (left) and Devin Mize (right) on a trip to Disneyland. Megan is a PTC graduate now a student at Southern New Hampshire University. Devin is a current PTC student.

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