Woman Completes 20 Courses from Major Universities While In Quarantine

• Paula Mendoza, 28, has become an inspiration to many after finishing 20 online university courses during the pandemic lockdown.
• The woman from the Philippines said it took her at least a day to finish each one.

A woman from the Philippines recently amazed netizens everywhere after her story has been covered by the local CNN. Like many of us, Paula Mendoza spent the past months in self-quarantine when authorities ordered a lockdown.

What she did, however, was to make the most of her spare time by signing up for different courses from major universities from across the world. And now she has managed to finish 20 online courses!

Meet Paula Mendoza, 28, of Makati, Philippines.

Of course, the obvious question for most would be: how did she do it?

According to the CNN article, Paula was eager to learn new skills and gain new knowledge during the pandemic. So she set a goal to complete at least 1 online course each day and eventually, she was able to finish the 20 courses from home in a month’s time.

As she told CNN:

“I would study straight from noon to dawn, because I felt like I could not sleep well if I didn’t finish the course… The longest course I’ve ever taken took me two days to finish.”

Her makeshift study table.

From her humble home, she studied courses offered by Wharton School of University, University of California, and 12 other top universities through Coursera.org, a site with over a thousand free courses for interested learners.

As with a traditional classroom setting, you will have to do quizzes, take tests, and pass assignments, among others, before earning a certificate.

Her favourite, so far, was Wharton’s ‘Achieving Personal and Professional Success,’ a course that aims to help “define what success means to you, and to develop a plan for achieving it,” she shared.

Paula hopes more people would take advantage of the free online courses, especially now that the pandemic has been causing stress and anxiety to people everywhere.

“If you get caught up in what’s happening around you, just look for uplifting activities for your mind and spirit,” she pointed out.