Brinika Hargrove ’27 found renewed hope and support through Simmons University’s Online Degree Completion Program, balancing motherhood, work, and school with determination. Now pursuing social work, she is channeling her experiences into a passion for advocacy, using her education to uplift families and communities in need.
Brinika Hargrove ’27 had given up on finding the right bachelor’s degree completion program. A devoted mother to a 4-year-old son, and a healthcare professional juggling two roles (a flow practice assistant for Brigham and Women's and a unit secretary at Faulkner Hospital), Hargrove’s daily schedule was already demanding. Still, she was determined to further her education to create a better future and more income for her family.
Discovering Simmons at the Right Moment
Initially, Simmons University was not on Hargrove’s radar. She had settled on a different university, but a deeply discouraging interaction with their staff almost made her abandon her educational dreams altogether.
Feeling defeated, she says she prayed for direction. That same night, while scrolling through Instagram, an ad for Simmons’ Online Degree Completion Program caught her eye. Because the online bachelor’s degree format offered the flexibility she needed to work around her son's schedule, she submitted her information.
In addition to flexibility, Simmons offers degree completion students an affordable tuition rate — $500 per credit — and the ability to transfer up to 96 credits.
Within days of sending in her form, Hargrove heard from a Simmons staff member, who treated her with warmth and respect.
That level of support continued as Hargrove enrolled in classes.
The Simmons Online Degree Completion program offers a high-quality curriculum while allowing the flexibility needed for the complex schedules of adult students. In particular, it offers a community specifically designed to empower women and gender expansive undergraduates.
"It’s like a family almost, and you don’t get that from other places," Hargrove shares. "This is where I feel comfortable ... with a school that understands that family is going to be there no matter what, but also helps make sure the student gets the education they’re trying to get.”
Building Connections in a Women-Centered Online Community
As good as she felt about her decision to join Simmons, Hargrove admits to initially being nervous that she wouldn't be able to form genuine connections with her instructors and peers online. After the first week of classes, Hargrove no longer had these concerns.
Hargrove shares how her fellow online peers have become a pillar of support, checking in on each other and creating a community like "cousins who I have never met.”
She also fondly remembers an academic advisor who went out of his way to call her every two weeks to check in on her mental health and overall progress, giving her the emotional support she needed to push forward.
“I love the staff at Simmons. I don’t think I would have made it this far without them,” she says.
Faculty Who Inspire Confidence
Hargrove also highlights supportive faculty members, like Associate Professor of Practice Jeremy Brown, whose engaging teaching style and encouragement made a lasting impact.
Hargrove enrolled in his macro social work course, in which Professor Brown encouraged the class to reach out for help whenever needed, sharing his desire to help them connect with the material.
“It’s just the way that he explained it and incorporated everything together to draw us in,” says Hargrove.
By the end of the class, Hargrove had written a letter to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu about homelessness in the city. “Never in a million years would I have thought I would have done that, but he had me so encouraged in that class that I felt like I could be outside City Hall every day speaking with [leaders].”
Pivoting to Advocacy
If you asked Hargrove years ago what her goal was, she may have said to become a nurse. It was always her family’s dream for her, she says. While she has spent over a decade in healthcare, her time at Simmons helped her realize her true calling.
Hargrove noticed that while patients were physically healed in the hospital, they often returned home to face severe systemic barriers like food insecurity, poverty, and housing instability.
"It's about how I can help other people," she explains. "Yes, you can help people [as a nurse], you can heal them. But when they leave [the hospital], they're still struggling in different areas. And that's where I feel I need to be."
Hargrove is majoring in social work with a minor in psychology and expects to graduate in the summer of 2027. She hopes to become a family advocate for children in school settings or small community organizations, helping them access needed resources.
Her coursework is already shaping her into the leader she needs to be, and she’s enjoyed learning from women mentors. In fact, at Simmons, 80% of the faculty are women.
In PLAN (Purpose, Leadership, ActioN), a required gender and leadership class with Simmons adjunct professor Valerie Geary helped her fulfill her 2026 New Year's resolution to “speak up.”
“This class has given me the voice to be able to communicate, not only for myself, but for others as well,” says Hargrove. “In the role I'm trying to take on as a social worker, I'm going to need that drive, that voice to speak up for others who cannot speak up. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.”
Advice to Future Students
Looking back on her journey from almost giving up to thriving in her degree program, Hargrove offers a powerful message to other adult learners facing their own challenges: Keep going.
"Keep going no matter the obstacles or barriers that may come into play," she advises. "If you can just overcome that and dig within yourself and your family and your support system, do it. Think about the future and where you're trying to be."