STEPHENVILLE (May 12, 2017) — A half-dozen extraordinary students are among the 1,449 graduates of Tarleton State University this weekend. They have overcome poverty, tragedy and personal challenges to reach their educational goals.
When 57-year-old George Wilson accepts his bachelor’s degree in business on Saturday, he’ll fulfill a promise he made to his mother 39 years ago when he joined the U.S. Marines. He had every intention of working on his college degree while serving his country, but life kept getting in the way.
George’s mother won’t be in the crowd this weekend to applaud his success. She passed away shortly after he started his degree program, but he’s certain “she’ll be watching.”
Not the oldest of his family to earn a university degree, George is 21 years ahead of his Uncle Jim who graduated at age 78 from Mountain View Community College in Dallas.
Deborah Jogie Cregger migrated to the United States from Grenada to become the first in her family to earn a university degree. It wasn’t easy.
During her first year at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, she unexpectedly lost her father.
Determined to finish her education, she worked multiple jobs to support her family back home and carried a full class load—even during summers—to earn her undergraduate degree in just 2½ years.
This Friday, Deborah will graduate with a doctorate in educational leadership from Tarleton. Her story is even more impressive considering she’s maintained a 4.0 GPA while juggling work and full-time mom responsibilities in addition to helping disadvantaged high school students prepare for and enroll at Tarleton.
When Linda Owens decided to go back to school after 25 years as a homemaker, mother and home-school teacher, she had the surprise of her life. She rediscovered herself.
Linda started her educational journey at McLennan Community College in Waco and then transferred to Tarleton on the MCC campus in 2011 as an undergraduate psychology major.
This weekend, she’ll receive her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
“I’m my old self again, my real self,” she said. “I have more energy and more joy.”
A single mother of four and caretaker for her uncle until his death, Marisa Gomez had a full plate when she started on her associate degree at Tarrant County College. In addition to classes, she juggled two part-time jobs and all the duties of being a mom.
“There were good days and bad,” Marisa recalls, “but I knew that getting an education was the best thing to do. Education has helped me grow and opened new opportunities to better myself and my family.”
After she receives her bachelor’s degree in social work from Tarleton this weekend, she’ll begin a new career as a full-time case manager.
When Colt Price received his bachelor’s degree in December 2011, it wasn’t during a traditional commencement ceremony like the one he will take part in this weekend. Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio presented Colt’s diploma in the trauma unit of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, where he was recuperating from a car accident that left him a paraplegic.
Colt wore Tarleton’s traditional graduation cap and gown, and Dr. Dottavio was dressed in full academic regalia.
This weekend they will wear the same, but Dottavio will confer Colt’s graduate degree in quality and engineering management in Wisdom Gym with all the other College of Engineering graduates.
For a schedule of Tarleton’s spring 2017 commencement ceremonies, visit www.tarleton.edu/calendar.
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