By Tiffany Whitfield
Husband and wife Aaron and Caitlyn Edwards graduated together on Dec. 14, 2024, from Old Dominion University. Both received their Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science. They have been married for three years and have worked full-time jobs while going to school. As they reached the end of college together, they reflected on managing their time and gave thanks to faculty in the Department of Computer Science for making their educational experiences so memorable.
Aaron is a double alumnus and received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Oceanography in May 2022. His first experience at ODU was as a commuter student from Hampton. This month, he received his second bachelor’s degree as an ODUGlobal student.
For Caitlyn, this is her first degree from ODU. She was a commuter student from Hampton and was originally uncertain about what she wanted to major in.
“I was an engineering major at first and then I switched to computer science,” she said. “It was hard to get here together, and it was hard to match it up so that we graduated at the same time because we had different credits at first.”
In addition to being full-time students, the couple are both employees at Newport News Shipbuilding and had to manage their time carefully.
“We both worked 40 hours a week at the shipyard, so it was tough,” Aaron said. He was an environmental engineer at the shipyard for radioactive waste, but he wanted to do something different.
Aaron wanted to move up at Newport News Shipbuilding and realized he needed a different degree. “I was thinking of going back to school and when she went to ODU, ‘I was like, all right, I'll go back with you,’” he said.
They had long days and long nights. Caitlyn started at ODU in 2018, but when the COVID-19 pandemic closed down in-person classes at ODU, she switched to online courses.
Pursuing a degree in computer science was appealing to them both for different reasons.
Aaron said, “I like learning new things and technology evolves every day…and it’s ABET accredited.”
The Department of Computer Science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission. ABET is a federation of 34 professional and technical societies representing college and university educational programs in applied science, computing, engineering and engineering technology.
Caitlyn was drawn to computer science because she feels like it gives her a lot of job options.
Aaron added, “You can do systems engineering or electrical engineering, it's pretty broad in this field. They take your skill set, because everything in the shipyard has become technology based.”
Senior Lecturer Soad Ibrahim was their advisor and taught some of their classes. “She was amazing," Caitlyn said. "She’s the reason I’m here today." When Caitlyn switched majors, it was Ibrahim who ensured she successfully made the switch to computer science.
“I want you to give a special shout out to Soad because she’s the nicest lady and she's willing to help,” Aaron said. “She's very knowledgeable.”
“She was just so nice, and when you didn't understand something, she didn't make you feel like you couldn’t do it; but she worked with all of the students to make sure they understood the material,” Caitlyn said.
It wasn’t until their last semester that the couple were in a class together. The course was an entrepreneurship course. “It's pretty much the senior project class where you present a candidate prototype,” Aaron said. They were in different groups.
“We studied together and bounced ideas off of each other,” Caitlyn said.
Other faculty members they said helped them along their journey were Assistant Professor Lucy Li and Senior Lecturer Thomas Kennedy. According to the couple, Li taught one of their hardest courses in theoretical computation.
They both recommend ODU to anyone seeking technology-based careers.
“Everybody's willing to help you do whatever you want to do, Aaron said. “You want to learn something new, or you can switch majors with no repercussions and it’s relatively affordable. I work with a guy who spent $67,000 a year to go to school for engineering and I got two degrees for less than that.”
For Caitlyn, choosing ODU was the right fit for her. “It’s so close to where we grew up and it’s close to my family. The staff, even when I was in engineering, were all very willing to help explain things even though I switched my major quite a few times.”
“I know it's more important for her, because I've already graduated once,” said Aaron, talking about their educational journey.
“We're doing it together this time, though,” said Caitlyn. “I think it's special, because we get to sit together at graduation and that's a rare occasion.”
“That is true, and we've done this whole life together, so to see her walk is something I never thought she'd see because she changed her major so many times,” said Aaron.
“We did it and we put in the hours, and we put in the work to get it done,” said Caitlyn.
Aaron received a promotion at Newport News Shipbuilding. “I applied to software engineer at shipyard and that's what I do now since I got this degree,” he said.
Now that she has her degree, Caitlyn believes she will have plenty of job options and is currently applying to positions at NNS. “Computer science goes a long way and is versatile,” she said.