Fourteen. That’s how old Victoria Millward was when she started her journey to a college degree.

Now 20, Millward will walk across the stage in the Mirenda Center on May 18 to receive her bachelor’s degree in psychology.

She didn’t take AP classes in high school or face daunting course loads during her two years at Neumann. Instead, she employed an innovative and very effective strategy.

As a freshman at Gloucester County Institute of Technology, she began taking courses in an associate degree program at Rowan College of South Jersey. By the time she graduated from GCIT, Millward had amassed almost 60 college credits.

“Through high school, I was taking four college courses per year and summer courses,” she explains. “Neumann accepted all of my college credits and, by the end of my first year here, I was a second-semester junior.”

She initially applied to GCIT for its allied health program, but a bout with an eating disorder – and an aversion to needles and blood – soon changed her focus to psychology. An internship at the Counseling Center in the fall of 2024 solidified her career path. Rose Adamo, one of the professional counselors, asked Millward to stay and helped to create a paid position for her. Now a student assistant, she runs a self-love yoga group at the Center.

“I’ve always been someone who wants to go, go, go. I’ve always pushed myself really hard,” Millward admits. “I know I’m young, but I want to live every moment and not regret anything. And I have the ability to push myself, so I do.”

She applies her enthusiastic approach to life beyond the classroom, too. In her two years on campus, she has been a presidential ambassador, resident assistant, and member of the field hockey team. She even participated in a spring break service trip with Campus Ministry to repair houses in poverty-stricken communities in conjunction with the Appalachia Service Project.

Next on Millward’s agenda is a master’s degree in psychology and eventually a PsyD doctoral program. And she already has a two-year head start.