Each of the 342 students set to cross the stage during the winter commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 12, has a story.
They have stories of dedication toward their education. Stories of overcoming challenges along the way. Stories of going above and beyond, achieving goals and looking toward the future while dreaming big.
While it’s impossible to share every one of those stories, here are six graduating seniors who took time to talk about their individual journeys at Missouri Southern and what the future has in store.
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DeAndre Reese, 23, credits Missouri Southern’s Project Stay program with not only making his transition to higher education an easier one, but preparing him for life after graduation.
“Project Stay benefited me through priority enrollment and getting me a one-on-one tour of the college,” said Reese, who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and minors in crime scene investigation and juvenile justice. “It also offered workshops that taught me about time management, finances, interview skills and resume building.”
Project Stay, which works with first-generation students like Reese to help them adjust to college life, was launched in 2001 at Missouri Southern. The program recently received a federal grant that will continue its funding for the next five years.
Reese, who works as a behavioral support technician at The Ark of the Ozarks, is a member of Alpha Phi Sigma National Criminal Justice Honor Society, and Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. He’s currently in the application process for a deputy juvenile officer position with the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri Family Court.
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At an age when many students are preparing for their freshman year of college, Saif Farag is applying for medical school.
Farag, 18, will graduate with a degree in biology, with a pre-med emphasis. He enrolled at Missouri Southern at age 15, after graduating from high school in Norcross, Ga.
“It was something else,” he said of starting college at such a young age. “It was hard to get accustomed to it … I felt like I was playing catch-up. But by the time I was 17 I felt like I had the hang of it.
“I appreciated how helpful the professors were and that they didn’t make a big deal out of how old I was.”
While at Missouri Southern, Farag stayed busy with Student Senate, Student Ambassadors, the Biology Club, Campus Activities Board and a number of other organizations.
“I’m currently filling out applications (for medical school),” he said. “I live here in Joplin, so I’ll find a job until I start, hopefully, next fall.”
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When Alexandra Starks, 22, was applying for graduate schools, she read up on the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, learning that the school is widely considered as one of the best universities in the world.
“It was a shoot-for-the-stars situation,” she said of applying to the school, but it wasn’t long before she learned that her application had been accepted.
Starks, who is graduating with a degree in international studies, will pursue her master of science degree in global health and public policy at the prestigious university next fall.
“It’s a one-year program,” she said. “They don’t take long summer breaks, so it’s condensed into a year.”
Before that, however, she’ll travel to Houston, Texas, to work with Amaanah Refugee Services as a client services intern.
“They work with refugees and I’ll be focusing on helping people get access to health care.”
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After serving for three and a half years in the Army, Seneca native Caleb Erwin said he wanted to stay local as he pursued his college degree.
Make that degrees. Erwin, 27, will graduate with a dual major in industrial engineering and manufacturing technology … a feat all the more impressive in that he completed both in just three years.
“I was working full time throughout my time here,” said Erwin. “But I definitely enjoyed it.”
Erwin served as president of Missouri Southern’s Society of Manufacturing Engineers, mentoring younger students considering a degree in industrial engineering.
He has accepted a position with Justin Brands, and plans to pursue his graduate degree in operations management.
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Dakota Going originally came to Missouri Southern with a plan to get a degree in respiratory therapy.
“But one anatomy and physiology class later, I decided to change my major to accounting,” he said with a laugh.
Going, 22, will graduate with his degree in accounting on Saturday. The Mount Vernon native has some job interviews in Springfield lined up and he plans to obtain his master’s degree.
“I want to teach … hopefully back here,” he said. “I really like Southern.”
Though he talks about it in matter-of-fact terms, Going has faced the added challenge of dealing with Stargardt disease – a form of juvenile macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss.
“My retinas started deteriorating in second grade,” he said. “It’s hereditary and hasn’t really stopped. But for as long as I can remember, this has been my life, so I’m used to it.”
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Coming from St. Louis, Kristen Hanna wasn’t sure what to expect when she accepted an offer to play basketball at Missouri Southern.
“At the start, I was skeptical,” said Hanna, 21. “But after a year here, I saw that this was the place I was supposed to land. I met so many good people and great mentors on campus … so many people who were willing to help me get to where I am. I don’t know if I would have had that elsewhere.”
The mass communication major spent two years playing basketball, but gave it up in order to spend a semester studying in London through the Honors Program.
Hanna is currently lining up freelance positions – the first being serving as a production assistant for the College Football National Championship early next year. She also hopes to take her senior thesis project and expand upon it for a documentary film.
“I want to continue to study how black and white bi-racial individuals construct racial identity in the United States,” she said.
She also hopes to travel overseas to further her study of yoga, which she has taught in campus recreation center.
“My mom has been teaching yoga for 16 years,” said Hanna. I found my own teaching products and studied under a friend who is also an instructor. I’d like to go to India to study more in depth.”
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