
- James Buck
- Alyson Detch at UVM
GAP offers an introduction to college and the ability to start earning college credits. It’s designed for students whose academic performance in high school was less than what they had hoped for, those who are unsure of career goals and feel cautious about investing time and money as full-time students, and students who are considering a gap year. If Detch could complete 18 credit hours and maintain a 2.8 grade point average, she would be guaranteed admission to a UVM undergraduate degree program.
Need some flexibility in your education?
Find out about all the programs UVM CDE has to offer.
“Going to college seemed really daunting,” she remembers. “I was scared at first, but the GAP program really helped with that first step through the door.” It turns out that a little help was all she needed: This fall, Detch starts her final year as an English major with a minor in reporting and documentary storytelling. She’ll graduate in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree.
The GAP program is one of many available through UVM Continuing and Distance Education (CDE). In alignment with UVM’s land grant mission, CDE provides access to credit courses during the academic year and summer term, offered both on the UVM campus and online. CDE also offers more than 30 noncredit and professional hybrid and online programs. They’re structured to meet the needs of part-time students who are often balancing work and family responsibilities.

Who are the faces of CDE?
Read more of Detch’s story below, and meet Rob Bousquet, a working father and digital marketing professional at King Arthur Baking, and Vy Cao, who balanced the demands of school and parenting to become a public health worker applying her data analysis skills to the COVID-19 crisis.
A Clear Pathway to College

- James Buck
- Alyson Detch at UVM
Detch says her professors made her feel at home. For example, in one memorable history class, she learned about the Silk Road and the Khan Empire, and her professor and the teaching assistant made memes for the lesson. “They found a new way to teach the material in a way I could understand and remember. That made it really fun,” she says.
Though Detch completed her GAP work in person, it’s also possible to complete the coursework online. GAP students enrolled in online courses are eligible for a 30 percent tuition savings on standard in-state and out-of-state per-credit-hour rates. When Detch started her first year as an admitted undergraduate at UVM, she “wasn’t scared at all.” She reports that “it was so much easier than jumping in right from high school.”

- Courtesy of Detch
- Alyson Detch
“My second book was so much better than the first because my professors and peers at UVM challenged me to become better at writing,” she says. After graduation, she hopes to work in journalism or become a “scribe” for a hospital, taking notes on surgeries.
“I love sharing my stories with the world,” she says, “and I got so much support at UVM.”
‘There’s Never a Bad Time to Go Back to School’

- James Buck
- Rob Bousquet and his wife Brooke roll out some pizza dough
And he holds down a demanding day job: Bousquet is the digital shopping marketing manager for King Arthur Baking (formerly King Arthur Flour). The iconic Vermont business has seen an explosion in popularity due to rising interest in baking during the pandemic.
Yet, in the spring of 2018, Bousquet decided he could handle another commitment and enrolled in UVM’s Digital Marketing Fundamentals professional certification program. “There’s never a bad time to go back to school,” he says.
How did he find the time? Bousquet often set aside an hour at the end of each day — or found blocks of a couple of hours during the week — when he could do his classwork. “If you want to make it work, you can make it work,” he says.

- Brooke Bousquet
- Bousquet and his boys mountain biking
Working in the digital sphere means things are constantly changing. “While you might think you have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on, it’s important to know that what you’re doing today is going to work tomorrow,” he said. “It’s important to stay current so that you’ve got the best possible tools at your disposal.”
That’s what drew Bousquet to UVM’s Digital Marketing certificate. “There are a lot of online programs of questionable quality,” he says, “but I trusted UVM to put together a program that keeps up with current trends and was well structured.” It lived up to his expectations. “I use things from the course each day that I’m working, because it broadened my knowledge on how to engage people’s attention,” he says.
“The instructors were helpful, as well,” he adds. “All of them kept up with changes in the industry. They were quick to answer questions, give feedback, and were helpful when you had a problem.”
Erik Harbison, lead instructor in the Digital Marketing Fundamentals program, has more than 20 years of experience in the field. “Every course instructor you’ll meet has done the work. They’ve spent time learning in the trenches,” he notes in the introductory course video.
An unexpected bonus for Bousquet was the incredible network the program provided. “One of the selling features they don’t tell you about is access to a community at large,” he says. While taking the course, he had conversations with other professionals who weren’t in his usual circle. “It was a really great value in addition to the program itself.”
‘It Was Really Flexible’

- James Buck
- Cao working from home with her daughter
She works behind the scenes, digging into data with a focus on children and adolescent health through the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program. She develops survey instruments to assess and capture information and accurately measure health advances. She also collaborates with the Vermont Department of Health — but it’s not the path she started out on.
A native Vermonter, Cao attended UVM and earned an undergraduate degree in microbiology and biochemistry in 2014. She’d thought about continuing her education by going to medical school, but it seemed like an impossible task for someone who was also raising a young daughter. So, after graduating, she took a job as a laboratory research technician in structural biology lab.
When she met with her adviser and former professors, many of them mentioned UVM’s online Master of Public Health program. Until then, she hadn’t considered it a possibility. She decided she could find time to take one course and see how it went. From the first class, Cao was hooked. She decided to go for her Certificate of Graduate Study, a short, six-course introduction to the field of public health. She loved it so much that she went on to earn her master’s degree.

- Courtesy of Vy Cao
- Cao in the lab with principal investigator Dr. Sylvie Doublié
Though the classes are online, the format is discussion based. “I learned a lot from my classmates and their point of view,” she says, “and that’s part of what public health is about: collaboration with others from different fields.”
The courses also offered Cao outside opportunities for research and volunteering. For one class project, she reached out to the Vermont Department of Health and the Area Health Education Centers to do independent research projects about vaping. One focused on the spread of vaping among Vermont youths. Cao worked with the Area Health Education Centers to assess the problem, identify gaps and concerns, and inform public health recommendations. The project went so well that she submitted her manuscript to an academic journal — it’s currently being given full consideration for publication.

- Courtesy of Vy Cao
- Cao presenting her independent research on the spread of vaping among Vermont youths

- Courtesy of Vy Cao
- Cao at UVM graduation with her family
Cao credits UVM CDE’s accessibility to educational growth for helping her reach her professional goals. “I was able to tailor the curriculum to what I was interested in, my professors were so supportive when I had questions, and it was really diverse and flexible,” she says.
And access is paramount at UVM CDE. Designed for students of every age and stage of life, CDE has helped thousands of nontraditional students: From precollege or gap-year courses to professional development programs for career advancement, there’s far more available than the traditional undergraduate degree.
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