From a prayer in Temecula to a diagnosis in Thailand, two Sun Devils prove ASU Online has no limits

Katherine Jones wasn't supposed to end up at Arizona State University. She had been looking at another university, ready to make her decision, when she ran into a wall she couldn't get around: she couldn't get a single human being on the phone.

So she kept looking. ASU Online found its way onto her radar, and this time, the experience was completely different. Someone reached out almost immediately. Every question she had was answered on the spot.

Recently, the Temecula, California, native received her degree in organizational leadership and project management, a program she says felt like it was meant for her from the start.

Navigating the rigor of an online education

Jones traveled to Arizona to attend her graduation and one more special celebration.

Although graduation ceremonies are a long-standing tradition, for online students, it offered a special chance to take part in the ASU Online Celebration, a special event recognizing ASU graduates who completed their degree online, giving many their first opportunity to visit the state and ASU in person.

Online education has come a long way. ASU Online now offers more than 350 online degree programs, and this spring surpassed 110,000 total graduates.

Jones, a first-generation college graduate, is one such student. She went straight through without a single break: seven semesters, two years, no stopping, balancing coursework alongside her job until she stepped back to focus on school full-time.

"Online is (rigorous),” Jones said. "You're learning five months' worth of material in seven weeks.”

Jones earned multiple honors cords, a stole recognizing her Indigenous heritage, and another for serving as executive student vice president from the National Society of Leadership and Success.

After visiting campus for a Dean's List dinner in February and staying an extra day for a graduate school orientation, she made up her mind to stay at ASU for graduate school.

"I felt like I was in the ASU community,” Jones said. “Something in my spirit said I was supposed to be here.”

Student keynote speaker Erin Egelhoff studied and earned her degree while traveling the world, writing papers on planes and carrying her education wherever life took her.

Egelhoff graduated in spring with her third master's degree, a Master of Legal Studies from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, adding to the two master’s degrees she currently holds.

"I literally took both of these programs all over the world with me. For me, this is the perfect thing," Egelhoff said.

But her path was marked by more than academic milestones.

Diagnosed with leukemia in the fall of 2025 while in Thailand, her second cancer diagnosis following an earlier battle with breast cancer, Egelhoff completed treatment in January and is currently in remission.

"Having these programs was instrumental in my healing because I had that to look forward to when other things were completely out of my control," she said.

Of all the programs she had enrolled in, ASU stands out by far, Egelhoff added.

What the graduates accomplished is no small feat.

Egelhoff will continue her education journey, enrolling in law school. And as for Jones? She will attend graduate school and become a double Sun Devil.