The courage to soar: Susan Hamilton’s journey from student to employee to Double Eagle
“I would struggle, I would flounder, I would face loss,” said graduate Susan Hamilton. “I would rise, I would thrive, I would succeed. My personal journey to graduation has been long and hard, but I knew I was always on the right path.”
Hamilton’s collegiate journey began over 25 years ago with an associate degree, and through the years, she faced many twists and turns, hills and valleys, on what seemed to be an endless road to her dream of attaining a master’s degree.
For Hamilton, that day is finally here as she walks onto the stage once again and receives her Master of Arts in social sciences degree.
“I can’t believe I’m finally here!” said Hamilton. “It feels like a lifetime ago I received my first degree, and now, I’m completing my educational journey with my master’s degree. Over 25 years later, my dream, my parents’ dream for me, has finally been realized.”
After earning her associate degree in marketing, Hamilton was married and soon welcomed a baby boy.
“I wanted to get my bachelor’s degree, but I needed to take a step back and focus on raising my son,” she said. “I always kept my dream of completing my education simmering in the background. At that time in my life, we were young and just starting out with a new baby. I didn’t think we could afford it both financially and from a time perspective.”
Hamilton has always been drawn to education since both of her parents were teachers with advanced degrees. After a few life changes, she wanted to work with students in some way so she began her career at Georgia Southern University.
After three years, she was established in her role and felt it was the right time to get started on the path to earn her bachelor’s degree.
“I knew about the TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) for full-time employees and at 42 years old, I was finally at a place in my life where I was ready!” she said. “I applied as a transfer student and was accepted the following semester. I couldn’t believe my dream was finally going to come true— to finish my undergraduate degree I started when I was 18 years old!”
However, life had other plans. Shortly after beginning her undergraduate program, Hamilton lost her father to Alzheimer’s Disease and became the full-time caregiver to her ailing mother. “I lost my hero,” she said. “How was I supposed to finish school, be a mom and caregiver and work full-time? I wanted to give up, but I kept hearing my dad’s voice, ‘You’re not done. You can do this.’”
Five years later, pushing through many obstacles and hardships, she graduated in the spring of 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in human and family development at the same time her son graduated with his degree from Ogeechee Technical College. Not only did Hamilton achieve one of her life-long dreams, she also watched her son achieve his own dream at the same time.
“Achieving one of my dreams was hard-fought and felt amazing, but watching my son walk across the stage to accept his degree in a field he was passionate about, was even more fulfilling than I could ever imagine,” she said.
Hamilton kept that positive momentum going and began the master of social science program with a concentration in sociology in the fall of 2024. But life had one more major twist in store for her.
“On the first day of my master’s program, my mother unexpectedly passed away,” she recounted. “Here I was again, beginning a degree program with the loss of my last living parent. Like before, I considered giving up because the loss just seemed too heavy to continue. I didn’t know how I could move forward without my parents guiding me through graduate school. They had walked that same graduate journey, and I had been depending on them to help me through it, but now they were both gone. But, I had come too far to stop now. I had to keep going – I wasn’t done yet.”
With a heavy heart and uncertain future, Hamilton was going through her mother’s personal papers and found an old thesis her mother had worked on many years before. Reading through it, she felt the heaviness in her heart lighten.
“As I read over her work, I was able to better understand some difficult material I had been struggling with that semester,” she said. “It was just the sign I needed to not give up and to keep going on the path to earn my master’s degree. I knew both my parents were with me and I wouldn’t have to do it alone.”
One year later, Hamilton is fulfilling her dream. She will take the last steps on a long and challenging path as she walks onto the stage and receives her master’s degree.
“I know my parents are proud,” she said. “They always had faith in me, even when I didn’t have faith in myself. The road was long and I didn’t follow a traditional path, but I always had my parents and my family supporting me along the way. Education is a lifelong journey with many starts and stops, it’s not just a destination.”
Hamilton’s journey will continue and her new path begins as a Double Eagle.
“I’m not sure exactly what direction I will take this time, but I look forward to continuing my work at Georgia Southern and my volunteer role at Camp Brightside working with students who have special needs and disabilities,” she said. “Like me, their journeys are filled with many twists and turns, struggles and hardships. I’m ready to help inspire them as they travel down their own paths from education to career to success and achieve their dreams. I know firsthand what it takes to get there, all they need is the courage to soar.”
