Military veteran, ASU Online student, graduates with honors after 20-year journey

Johnathon Orrell took his first college class in 1998. After 20 years of juggling military service, working full-time and being a single father, he is now completing his degree and graduating from Arizona State University with honors. This month, he will earn a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Media Studies

After a chance encounter with ASU President Michael M. Crow at a military event in Washington, D.C., Orrell reconsidered the idea of higher education. While completing his degree wasn’t on Orrell’s mind at the time, the memory of the conversation resurfaced a few years later when he came across a small gift President Crow had given him. At that point, he finally took the plunge and applied to ASU.

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