Spring 2026 graduate Shanteal Alleyne reminds adult learners it’s never too late to start
Shanteal Alleyne ’26 has always been a go-getter. While an undergraduate in Guyana, a friend told her about a new radio station in town and urged her to try out, saying she had a beautiful voice.
Despite lacking on-air experience, Alleyne made contact, wrote a proposal, and set up a meeting.
“They loved the idea. And I guess the rest is history,” Alleyne said. She landed the gig and hosted a morning show while immersed in her studies.
A changed person but a goal remained
After time as an undergrad in Guyana, life happened. Alleyne ended up moving to Europe, getting married, and having children.
“Somewhere along the way, the dream of pursuing my master’s degree gradually faded into the background,” she said in her May 2026 remarks as student speaker representing University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) stateside graduates at spring commencement. “Not because I didn't want it anymore, but because it didn't feel possible."
Though the light may have dimmed, it didn’t go out, and about a decade after graduation the opportunity to return to school presented itself.
Alleyne’s husband helped her choose. While stationed with the U.S. military in South Korea, he took several courses with UMGC, and assured her his experience was a good one.
An easy choice, with caveats
At first, Alleyne wondered about degree transferability from her previous institution in Guyana. “I thought that I would have to do it all over again,” she said.
But throughout her journey, the helpfulness of people she encountered heartened her. UMGC advisors worked to confirm that her international bachelor’s degree met the requirements to enroll in a master’s program, and welcomed her to UMGC.
Next, it was time to get back to the books.
“I was a bit anxious at first because I wanted to have the traditional in-classroom work that I was accustomed to,” Alleyne noted.
Thinking about it today, having a job and two children who were young at the time, she said she felt like choosing UMGC—with its flexible online programs—was one of the best calls she has ever made.
“Could you imagine me managing going to regular classes and doing all this other stuff?” she said. “That is how I was drawn to UMGC.”
“You are not the only one”
From her first conversations with UMGC, Alleyne found it comforting that there was always a helping hand available, but as classes got underway, she began to have doubts. New worries swirled. Was it too much? Did she wait too long to start over? Thoughts that were enough to give Alleyne a migraine.
The experience led her to call her success coach to tell him she had made a mistake in returning to school. UMGC success coaches are there for precisely such moments, acting as guides throughout the student’s time with the university.
“You are not the only one, I promise you,” she recalled him saying. “And he said—one of the things that really stood out to me—‘You do not have to do everything at once.’”
A final project with real-world impact
While earning her master’s degree, Alleyne also worked for Chapter One, a nonprofit focused on fostering literacy among young children. As a tutor at an elementary school, she witnessed the organization’s positive impact firsthand and felt she could offer more.
For her strategic communications capstone project, a final assignment designed to apply learned skills and concepts to a real-world endeavor, Alleyne reached out to the chief executive officer of Chapter One.
“We were able to set up a meeting where I went into details. She was so interested. She wanted to know so much about it,” Alleyne said.
Alleyne talked about how, in collaboration with leadership, she analyzed and reported on the organization’s strategic strengths and challenges. “I was able to provide plans and solutions out of ideas from class that led up to that moment,” Alleyne said. “It was so amazing to me.”
Shanteal Alleyne ’26 MS, Strategic Communications
Choosing to start
In her graduation speech, Alleyne made a particularly salient point. "My experience reflects a common reality among adult learners: we don’t always start when we planned, but we choose to start anyway."
Alleyne said that over the years she became more confident, more grounded, more certain of who she is and what she is capable of.
The moments of doubt melted away; new skills and reinforced belief in herself remained.
“It’s okay if your path doesn’t look like everyone else’s,” she said, addressing fellow 2026 graduates. “You became someone stronger, someone more resilient, someone who didn’t give up.”
Read more spring 2026 graduate stories about perseverance, military spouses, career transformation, military servicemembers and veterans, and the community graduates found at UMGC.