2025年秋季毕业生焦点：非传统学生找到时间，支持赚取她的学位

对莫莉·肯尼迪（Mollie Kennedy）来说，获得大学学位已经花了十年的时间

这位护士和两个孩子的母亲从2015年左右开始断断续续地在佩里西比州立社区学院上学，当时一位家庭成员鼓励她重返校园。

“You should absolutely go back to school,” Kennedy said before graduating at Pellissippi State’s fall 2025 毕业典礼 Ceremony. “I know it's a very difficult decision to come to. My number one is – make sure you have a very strong support system that's always going to be there for you.”

肯尼迪攻读学位的目标是为她和她6岁和8岁的孩子们创造更好的生活。 她实现这一梦想的过程涉及其他地区的大学，但佩利西比大学是她得到最多支持的地方。

她敦促即将入学或未来的学生充分利用学院的资源，包括Start Strong Success Center、咨询和奖学金。

“Pellissippi has changed my life by making education more accessible to me and to my family,” said Kennedy, who noted that her wife is studying social work at the college.

作为一名成年学习者，肯尼迪能够从凤凰彩票重新连接中受益，这是凤凰彩票高等教育委员会提供的一项资助计划，允许凤凰彩票符合条件的学生免费就读社区或技术学院。

The scholarship relieved Kennedy’s financial strain and prevented her from having to use “every bit of what was available” to her in student loans.

“Even though I might be the oldest in a class, I have always felt supported and welcome and just a part of the class,” Kennedy said of her experience as a nontraditional student. “And I've never felt left out.”

肯尼迪的下一步是进入一所四年制大学，可能会学习人类学。

“After all this time, it is such a relief to be graduating,” she said. “And to know that all the work that my family and I have put in over the past 10 years is finally going to pay off.”

Her two daughters are proud of their mother’s accomplishment, and accompanied Kennedy to the campus bookstore to purchase the tassel for her graduation cap.

她说，他们经常深夜陪伴肯尼迪，在她学习和练习他们自己的阅读和写作时陪伴她。

“I think that education is more accessible through Pellissippi State than through other means,” Kennedy said. “And the people of Pellissippi, they 100% support and encourage you to never stop achieving your dreams.”