Well, it finally happened, a day that I spent many many hours in the library for hoping that it would all be worth it. I am talking about none other that than Graduation Day! Congrats to the class of 2011, we made it! Of course, I’ve been down the carpeted walkway before, but this time was different. What most people don’t know is how arduous this journey has been, how long and bumpy and full of potholes the road was and how every step of the way I was challenged like I’ve never been challenged before. For those who don’t know, I’ll try to be brief.
Moving to Las Vegas in the late summer of 2008 was a step I was not unfamiliar with. I had moved to another state before, with no friends and no real certainty of what experience lie in wait. My grandparents lived there and that was all the comfort I could ask for. Graduate school was a challenge from the get go, but I loved it at first, I was learning things that mattered to me and to my respective field and it was thrilling. I made new friends and saw old friends come and go. So things were looking my way…
When my grandpa got severely ill, it became harder and harder. Actually 2009 was not a good year except fot the fact that Bryce finally admitted his feelings for me and vice versa. First we lost grandpa in January, then Nannie left us in September. As far as school I had applied and was granted a job on campus as a graduate assistant teaching journalism to undergrads not to mention my own personal schedule was loaded and Bryce and I became engaged but decided to live apart so I could finish my degree.
As if that wasn’t enough, I started having major conflict on campus when a professor decided I was a bad apple and went about sabotaging my academic career by kicking me out of a required class and failing me, spreading lies about me to other faculty and accusing me of copyright infringement. I started to love graduate school less at this point. This professor obviously has issues, but nevertheless it caused a severe weight loss and the worst case of stress I have ever known. I have never experienced this type of conflict before in my life.I could go on, but I feel a sense of peace now, and I’m much to classy to dwell on those who try to defeat me.
All this is past, and on May 14th, 2011 I walked across the stage, shook the dean’s hand and smiled gracefully as my family and friends cheered loud from the stands. I made it. I reached the end of the long and bumpy road, I made it through the potholes and the stress and the tears, and I promised myself on that stage that nothing would ever come close to defeating me ever again.
Thank you to all who have been supportive, my husband who is my best friend and greatest support, my mom for always being the voice of reason, my sister who is wise beyond her years, and all my friends who continue to call me a friend. I dedicated my thesis to you all, and to my grandpa Alfred K. Coleman, and my nannie, Mary K. DeCosta.
