NC State student Chad Hunning has worked as a firefighter for the City of Charlotte Fire Department for 15 years.<\/span><\/p>\n Prior to fighting fires, Hunning <\/span>served in the U.S Navy aboard the U.S.S Boxer. \u00a0He was a Petty Officer 3rd Class, Machinist Mate<\/span>. He\u2019s been serving his nation and community for many years and plans to continue in this line of work for years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI chose the <\/span>Leadership in the Public Sector (LPS)<\/span><\/a> program because I believe that this degree will give me a big advantage in the promotional process \u2014to captain and hopefully chief in the future,\u201d Hunning said. With the addition of his degree, he will now be eligible for these promotions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOver the rest of my career, I think that my degree will make me a better leader and allow me to be a mentor to future leaders,\u201d Hunning explained.<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning has been a huge NC State sports fan since he was a little kid.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI chose to go into the military after high school, but if I hadn\u2019t, I would have wanted to study at NC State back then,\u201d Hunning said.<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning knew taking on-campus classes wouldn\u2019t work with his hectic work schedule and the fact that he lives in Huntersville, North Carolina. Having the program offered through <\/span>NC State Online and Distance Education<\/span><\/a> pretty much sealed the deal for Hunning.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe online program is the only way that I would have been able to complete a degree program,\u201d Hunning said. \u201cFor those of us who are older and have already started a career and don\u2019t have the ability to sit in classrooms, the online programs are a way for us to continue our education,\u201d Hunning explained.<\/span><\/p>\n He said communicating with the online faculty was easy and professors were always engaged with his learning experiences. <\/span><\/p>\n In addition working full time and working toward his degree, Hunning is also a full-time dad to two daughters.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBalancing a full class load was hard at times. Luckily, I was able to work on schoolwork during down times at the firehouse. I did have to sacrifice some time with my daughters. They are very excited about my graduation,\u201d Hunning said. He graduates May 12 and there\u2019s certainly a sense of pride and accomplishment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTaking classes online instead of sitting in the classroom does require good organization skills and a lot of self-motivation,\u201d Hunning said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that my experience and the knowledge that I gained was any less than the students who attend the university [on-campus] classes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning thinks NC State\u2019s online LPS program is great for anyone in the public service industry, whether they are firefighters like himself, police officers or military personnel. He says the online program is flexible with unconventional schedules. <\/span><\/p>\n The LPS program is offered through <\/span>NC State\u2019s College of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/span><\/a>. In addition to the <\/span>bachelor’s degree-completion program<\/span><\/a>, there is an undergraduate certificate and a <\/span>bachelor\u2019s degree specifically for military members and veterans<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n NC State student Chad Hunning has worked as a firefighter for the City of Charlotte Fire Department for 15 years.<\/span><\/p>\n Prior to fighting fires, Hunning <\/span>served in the U.S Navy aboard the U.S.S Boxer. \u00a0He was a Petty Officer 3rd Class, Machinist Mate<\/span>. He\u2019s been serving his nation and community for many years and plans to continue in this line of work for years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI chose the <\/span>Leadership in the Public Sector (LPS)<\/span><\/a> program because I believe that this degree will give me a big advantage in the promotional process \u2014to captain and hopefully chief in the future,\u201d Hunning said. With the addition of his degree, he will now be eligible for these promotions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOver the rest of my career, I think that my degree will make me a better leader and allow me to be a mentor to future leaders,\u201d Hunning explained.<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning has been a huge NC State sports fan since he was a little kid.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI chose to go into the military after high school, but if I hadn\u2019t, I would have wanted to study at NC State back then,\u201d Hunning said.<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning knew taking on-campus classes wouldn\u2019t work with his hectic work schedule and the fact that he lives in Huntersville, North Carolina. Having the program offered through <\/span>NC State Online and Distance Education<\/span><\/a> pretty much sealed the deal for Hunning.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe online program is the only way that I would have been able to complete a degree program,\u201d Hunning said. \u201cFor those of us who are older and have already started a career and don\u2019t have the ability to sit in classrooms, the online programs are a way for us to continue our education,\u201d Hunning explained.<\/span><\/p>\n He said communicating with the online faculty was easy and professors were always engaged with his learning experiences. <\/span><\/p>\n In addition working full time and working toward his degree, Hunning is also a full-time dad to two daughters.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBalancing a full class load was hard at times. Luckily, I was able to work on schoolwork during down times at the firehouse. I did have to sacrifice some time with my daughters. They are very excited about my graduation,\u201d Hunning said. He graduates May 12 and there\u2019s certainly a sense of pride and accomplishment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTaking classes online instead of sitting in the classroom does require good organization skills and a lot of self-motivation,\u201d Hunning said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that my experience and the knowledge that I gained was any less than the students who attend the university [on-campus] classes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hunning thinks NC State\u2019s online LPS program is great for anyone in the public service industry, whether they are firefighters like himself, police officers or military personnel. He says the online program is flexible with unconventional schedules. <\/span><\/p>\n The LPS program is offered through <\/span>NC State\u2019s College of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/span><\/a>. In addition to the <\/span>bachelor's degree-completion program<\/span><\/a>, there is an undergraduate certificate and a <\/span>bachelor\u2019s degree specifically for military members and veterans<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>"},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chad Hunning wanted to earn a degree while continuing to work as a full-time firefighter. NC State\u2019s Online and Distance Education program in Leadership in the Public Sector was the right fit for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":102481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"source":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"Chad Hunning wanted to earn a degree while continuing to work as a full-time firefighter. NC State\u2019s Online and Distance Education program in Leadership in the Public Sector was the right fit for him.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2439,2606,2483],"tags":[2622,2460,2495],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102480"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113018,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102480\/revisions\/113018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-test.online.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}