This spring Shaquille O’Neal earned his doctorate degree in Organizational Learning and Leadership from Barry University the old fashioned way: by spending his days in a library instead of on a basketball court. No honorary degree for this guy!

“I’m as proud of this as anything I have accomplished in my life,” O’Neal wrote in an article for USA Today.

Wait, wait, wait. Is he really saying that earning a little piece of paper is as important to him as his career in the NBA? What would make someone think that way?

“I was fortunate to have a mother who understood the value of education, even as she saw me join the NBA,” he continued. “…My mom knew that education not only would help me down the road, it also would make me a better person.”

O’Neal was studying for his bachelor’s degree at Louisiana State University when he was drafted into the NBA. He was in his junior year and only had a few more classes to take before he would have his bachelor’s degree. Instead of giving up on his education and focusing only on his career in the NBA, he took correspondence classes in order to earn his degree. Read the rest of this entry »

Hayden Leslie Panettiere was born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, Rockland County, New York. She is the daughter of Alan L. “Skip” Panettiere, a fire department lieutenant and Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress.

Panettiere attended South Orangetown Middle School in New York. She was educated at home from the 9th grade through high school. Currently Panettiere has postponed higher education in favor of pursuing her acting career.

Panettiere first appeared on screen at eleven months old. She starred in commercials as a baby. As a child Panettiere began acting in daytime television. She held roles on the soap opera One Life to Live and Guiding Light. Panettiere’s most prominent role was that of Claire Bennet in the NBC series Heroes. The show ran from 2006 to 2010.

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Robert William “Bobby” Flay was born on December 10, 1964 in New York City. His parents are Bill and Dorothy Flay. Flay dropped out of high school at age 15.

Flay worked many restaurant jobs as a young man. One of his jobs was making salads at Joe Allen Restaurant in New York’s Theatre District. Flay’s boss recognized his natural ability and paid his tuition to attend the French Culinary Institute. Flay received a degree in culinary arts in 1984.

After culinary school, he started working for several restaurants. The stressful business moved Flay around a lot. Flay held several executive chef potions in several establishments. Flay took the position of executive chef at Mesa Grill in 1991. This career move was pivotal for Flay. It lead to many of his profitable successes.

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Hannah Dakota Fanning was born on February 23, 1994 in Conyers, Georgia. She is better known as Dakota Fanning. Fanning is the daughter of Steve J., an electronics salesman, and Joy Fanning. Fanning attended Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California.

Fanning first acting job was at the age of five. She starred in a Tide commercial. Fanning’s first notable job was a guest role on NBC’s drama ER. Fanning’s career skyrocket in 2001. Fanning starred opposite Sean Penn in the movie I Am Sam. The film is a story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter.

Fanning’s performance as Penn’s daughter earned her a Screen Actor’s Guild nomination. At the age of seven she became the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

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Mitchel David “Mitch” Albom was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey. Albom attended high schools in Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. One of his schools included Akiba Hebrew Academy in Lower Merion. Albom attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Albom went on to graduate school and earned Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Albom then received a MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

Albom worked his way through graduate school with a few minor writing jobs. He wrote for the Queens Tribune, a weekly newspaper. Albom even he wrote for local supermarket circulars. Eventually he took a part-time job with SPORT magazine, which began his interest in sports writing. Albom freelanced as a sports writer for multiple publications such as Sports Illustrated, GEO, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Albom earned his first full-time position in 1983. He was hired as a full-time feature writer for The Fort Lauderdale News Sun Sentinel. Eventually he became a columnist. In 1985 Albom won the Associated Press Sports Editors award for best Sports News Story. This lead to Albom’s promotion to lead sports columnist for The Detroit Free Press. In 1989 Albom branched out from sports writing. He was asked to write a non-sports column. The column ran on Sundays in the “Comment” section. It dealt with American life and values. Eventually Albom’s column was syndicated across the country.

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Jeffrey Jacob “J. J.” Abrams was born June 27, 1966 in New York. Abrams was raised in Los Angeles. His parents are television producer Gerald W. Abrams, and executive producer Carol Abrams. Abrams’ first job in the movie business was at age sixteen. He wrote music for Don Dohler’s film Nightbeast.

Abrams attended Sarah Lawrence College. During Abrams’ senior year at college he wrote a film treatment. That treatment was purchased by Touchstone Pictures and became Abrams’ first production. Taking Care of Business was released in 1990. One year later Abrams produced Regarding Henry.

Abrams had success very early in his career. His projects were often very successful. In 1998 Abrams co-produced the box office hit Armageddon. Still in 1998, Abrams made his first attempt at television production with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network. Abrams founded his own production company called Bad Robot. With Bad Robot, Abrams created and executive-produced ABC’s Alias. He also co-created and executive produced Lost.

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Rhonda Byrne was born on March 12, 1951. She is a native Australian television writer and producer. Byrne is best known her book and film, The Secret. Byrne began her career as a radio producer before moving into television production.

Many of her shows won industry awards and were screened in major countries outside Australia. Byrne has served as producer for Sensing Murder, a television series in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Byrne has also worked on the Australian TV series World’s Greatest Commercials and Marry Me.

In 2006 Byrne released the DVD and the book The Secret. The self help concepts that are presented are based upon William Walker Atkinson’s prior works and school of thought. By the spring of 2007 Byrne had sold nearly 4 million copies of the book and over 2 million copies of the DVD.

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Paula Deen was born on January 19, 1947 in Albany, Georgia. She attended Albany High School, and married not long after. In 1989 she divorced Jimmy Deen, to whom she had been married since 1965. Deen took her cooking experience and began a catering service in Savannah, Georgia. Deen began by making sandwiches and other meals and her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered the food.

The business was called The Bag Lady. It was successful and soon outgrew her kitchen. On January 8, 1996, Deen opened her first restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in Savannah. The southern style menu was very well received. Deen’s restaurant was very popular and she soon opened a second establishment. The “Paula Deen Buffet” at Harrah’s Tunica Casino in Tunica, Mississippi opened in 2008.

Deen has released several cookbooks. In 1997 Deen published The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2. The books were very successful and she has released two more since.

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What do Shannen Doherty and many other average Americans have in common? They have not earned as high of an education as they would like. However, going back to college can be difficult for working adults because of all of the other commitments they already have in their lives, such as friends, family, and their job. Luckily, Shannen has found a way to make her dream of getting a higher education a reality, and with ClassesPlease.com, you can too.

ClassesPlease.com is part of Education Connection, a website that makes it easier to find an educational path that is right for you. Like it’s parent-company, ClassesPlease.com allows users to find a college and major that will work with their schedule and meet their interests. Currently, ClassesPlease.com helps people find educational programs in career fields like information technology, criminal justice, business, culinary arts, and health sciences.

“I’m actually getting my degree in liberal arts,” said Shannen.

Shannen has partnered with the website in order to realize her life-long dream of earning a college degree. On a commercial for the website, Shannen says it’s easy to learn through this program because she can study whenever and wherever she is. Shannen is obviously doing an online program, but ClassesPlease.com also offers information about in-class programs.

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Dane Jeffrey Cook was born on March 18, 1972 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cook is the second son of George F. and Donna Jean Cook. The family moved to Arlington, Massachusetts, where Cook attended Arlington High School. After graduation, Cook studied graphic design in college as a fall-back plan in case he could not earn a living doing comedy. He now designs all of his merchandise.

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City and began performing. In 1996 Cook moved to Los Angeles. Cook’s big break came in 1998 when he appeared on the Comedy Central show Premium Blend.

In 2003, Cook released his first comedy album, Harmful If Swallowed. Cook then signed a contract with Comedy Central Records. His first album is certified platinum. Just two years later Cook released his second album entitled Retaliation. Retaliation went double platinum and made Cook the first comedian in 29 years to have an album top the Billboard charts.

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