Welcome to the Gateway Scholar Spotlight Series! WPI Online recently launched the Gateway Scholarship, which is awarded each year to 5 of our online, part-time graduate students. This series will introduce you to the award winners: working professionals who are pursuing their educational goals through WPI Online while juggling career, family, and more.
One visit to any Disney theme park will tell you just how vital robotics engineering is to so many of their attractions. As we combed through submissions for the first Gateway Scholarship, we were thrilled to learn that WPI Online has a bona fide Imagineer among its part-time online graduate students!
While most of our online students come from the greater New England area, WPI Online is accessible to working professionals all over the country. Daniel Gray, for instance, is a retired US Marine who lives in Orlando, Florida, and works at Walt Disney World. He is also pursuing his Master of Science degree in Robotics Engineering from WPI and was recently awarded one of the first Gateway Scholarships by WPI Online.
Daniel is grateful to be a Gateway Scholar, because he knows the struggle of being a working professional with a family. “I live in a single-income family of six,” he says. “This [award] will greatly help to reduce stress so I can concentrate on my education.” When he isn’t juggling work and school, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family, especially his son.
Daniel also says he appreciates all the extra support and flexibility WPI Online provides students like him, from planning the right educational path to convenient course delivery. “With Disney my schedule is very crazy,” he says. “The [online Robotics] program offers great flexibility for my professional and family life.”
“Thank you all very much for the opportunity to be part of this great organization!”