2023 Pillars of Strength Scholarship Recipient
Angela Cooper is exceptional among the 70 people who have benefited from the Pillars of Strength Scholarship Program since its launch in 2013. All the other beneficiaries of the scholarship, which targets caregivers of servicemembers and veterans, have used the opportunity to work on bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Cooper, however, has her eyes on a doctorate degree from University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC).
“As a teenager, I dreamed of receiving a doctorate degree,” she explained. “However, life happens. Yet, never giving up on hope has brought me to the place of enrolling in the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program at UMGC.”
One of eight children growing up in Washington, D.C., Cooper started her academic path at the University of the District of Columbia, studying business and behavioral health while also working. She finished her bachelor’s degree at UMGC before launching into a master’s program in nonprofit business.
Bert Norville, who would become her husband, had been in the Army for 10 years before retiring. Cooper said he has a severe anxiety disorder that began while he was in the military but was not properly diagnosed until recently. She said his mental health challenges began after they married and had a son, who is now 28 and serving in the Navy.
His condition “totally spiraled,” she said, and instead of receiving real psychological counseling through Veterans Affairs (VA), his treatment was limited to medications that didn’t get to the root of the problem. Cooper said it is just in the past year that he began the counseling he needs. She said her husband has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, anxiety disorder and physical challenges.
Her husband’s anxiety has become severe, she said, giving her little time to herself and little ability to make friends.
International Christian Church where, after taking many classes and working in community service and outreach, she was ordained as a minister more than 15 years ago. Cooper would take her husband to work with her on the three days a week she volunteered. She also signed up for several mental health courses to try to understand what was happening to Norville.
“I’m a lifelong learner,” she said.
Recently, her job at the church became part time. That finally freed her up to pursue a doctorate, but it also cut significantly into the family income. Cooper looked around at various online doctorate programs that she could afford. She ended up back at UMGC.
“I was reading my emails, and I saw the information about the Pillars of Strength Scholarship,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘Okay God, is this a sign that I should go ahead and apply right now?’ I filled out the application with a prayer that I would be one of the recipients.” The scholarship pays for its recipients’ tuition and fees until they reach their degree goal.
Cooper’s dream since she was a teenager was to open a one-stop center for people in underserved communities to help them figure out their life journey and provide them with the services they need.
“I can always say that wherever I worked, it wasn’t for the money,” she said. “I have survived this long without the money, but I am so fulfilled by being able to touch other people’s lives. So, I want to take what I learn about business from this degree and put a plan together to start a business helping other people who are less fortunate, people who are impacted by trauma and young people who are gone astray.”
That’s why when she got the news from UMGC that she was a scholarship recipient, she just broke down.
“All I could do was cry,” she said. “When you are pouring out, pouring out, pouring out on other people, sometimes you forget about ‘me.’ You put yourself on the back burner. But then you receive a blessing you desire. It was wonderful.”