Thom Brooks, Southwestern Community College dean of career technologies, calls Adam Guffey- the college’s first student to complete a business administration degree online- the poster boy for online classes. “Adam works a 45-hour week at Haywood Builders, he and his wife just had a baby boy, he volunteers for the Cullowhee Fire Department yet maintained a 4.0 grade point average in his business classes and was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa honor society,” Thom said. “It takes self motivation,” said Adam, a May 2008 graduate. “You don’t have anybody standing over you telling you what you have to do when. You pretty much set up your own schedule.” Adam had never taken online classes before, plus he had been out of school 10 years.. “But Haywood Builders is an employee-owned company and I know that having a business administration degree will help me in my career advancement,” Adam said. The applicability of his courses impressed him, he said and it “wasn’t just learning for the sake of learning. It was real. I’d read and learn about something online and I could see how to apply that on my job.”