If you had told 17-year-old me, fresh out of high school and eager to take on Michigan State University, that I'd be back in 2025 finishing my degree, I probably would've laughed. Or cried. Maybe both.

Because back then, I thought I had it all figured out.

Spoiler alert: I didn't.

A Dream I Thought Was Over

For many people, a degree represents four years of work. For me, it represents a journey that started in 2008 and has taken nearly two decades to complete. Because there was a time when I genuinely believed I would never finish.

When people hear how long it took me to earn my degree, they sometimes assume I simply took a break and came back later. The reality is much more complicated than that.

Starting at Michigan State University

I graduated from high school in 2008 and went straight to Michigan State University. Like many students, I spent those years learning, growing, struggling, and trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted my future to look like.

I started at MSU as an engineering major, but it quickly became clear that engineering wasn't where I was meant to be. After struggling through core courses (and let's be honest, failing more than a few of them), I found myself in a meeting with Dr. Theo Caldwell, one of my professors and the assistant dean of the college.

He saw something I couldn't admit to myself at the time: engineering wasn't my calling.

With his guidance, I transitioned to Media Arts & Technology in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences. It felt like a much better fit for my interests and strengths, but changing majors didn't magically solve everything.

College was still a battle.

Balancing academics, finances, work, and adulthood proved much harder than I expected. After years of excelling in school with what felt like minimal effort, I suddenly found myself struggling in ways I never had before.

When Graduation No Longer Felt Possible

By 2014, I thought I was nearing the finish line. I even participated in commencement in May 2014 because I fully expected to complete my remaining degree requirements shortly afterward.

Then everything changed.

Years of academic struggles had taken a toll on my GPA. I had failed and repeated multiple courses, exhausted my available repeat credits, and still had about 20 credits left to complete my degree program.

I remember sitting with that reality and feeling completely defeated.

At the time, I needed someone to help me see a path forward. Instead, what I heard felt more like confirmation that there wasn't one. On top of all that, I also owed MSU money and had no idea how I was going to repay it.

I continued trying to push forward, but by December 2015, I stopped attending altogether.

Not because I didn't care.

Not because I wasn't capable.

But because I couldn't see a way through.

Carrying an Unfinished Chapter

For years, I carried the weight of that unfinished degree with me. And honestly, there were times when I tried to convince myself it didn't matter.

I already had professional experience.

I was building skills outside the classroom.

I was working, creating, and finding opportunities on my own.

I would tell myself that I didn't really need a degree to do what I wanted to do anyway.

But as someone who graduated in the top 5% of my high school class, there was always a small part of me that felt like I'd failed at something that once came naturally to me and never finished what I started.

That unfinished chapter stayed with me.

Life kept moving. Years passed. I explored other educational paths. I gained experience. I learned lessons I never would have learned in a classroom. But the question of whether I would ever finish my degree never completely went away.

Returning to Michigan State

The turning point came after I completed my term as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

Through the program, I received an education award that gave me the financial means to pay off my balance at MSU. More importantly, it gave me something I hadn't had in a long time: hope.

For the first time in years, finishing my degree felt possible again.

Not easy.

Not guaranteed.

But possible.

Returning to Michigan State University wasn't just about enrolling in classes again. It was about revisiting a chapter of my life that I thought had already ended.

I wasn't the same person who had left years earlier.

I had gained professional experience, started businesses, served my community, faced setbacks, learned hard lessons, and grown in ways that 17-year-old me couldn't have imagined.

When I returned, my original major no longer existed, so I found a new home in the Information Science program.

One of the best parts of returning was rejoining the Bailey Scholars Program (BSP), a place that had always felt like home. As a first-generation college student, BSP reminded me of my experience at UPREP Academy—a supportive learning environment where curiosity, creativity, and personal growth mattered just as much as grades.

It only felt right that I would complete the Leadership in Integrated Learning minor alongside my degree.

Returning to finish what I started wasn't about proving anything to anyone else. It was about keeping a promise to myself and finally closing a chapter that had remained unfinished for far too long.

Making the Extra Credits Count

Of course, coming back wasn't as simple as picking up where I left off.

Although my program changed, I only had five courses left to complete my major requirements. However, my college and university GPA still needed a boost, which meant taking additional coursework.

Since I'd already exhausted most of my undergraduate financial aid and would be paying some expenses out of pocket, I decided that if I was going to take extra classes, they should help me build toward my future goals.

That's what led me to the Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor.

Let's be real: I've never envisioned spending my entire career as an employee. Entrepreneurship has always been part of my story. This minor is giving me the opportunity to strengthen skills that support both my professional and business goals.

Delayed, Not Denied

Not everyone chooses to return and finish a degree nearly a decade after leaving school.

But I've never been particularly good at leaving things unfinished.

Michigan State University has been woven throughout my story for years—from my first dining hall job to my time in Houston, my return to Lansing, and now this final chapter.

Coming back wasn't just about earning a degree.

It was about proving to myself that setbacks don't have to be the end of the story.

It was about honoring the younger version of myself who arrived on campus full of dreams.

It was about keeping a promise.

And although I won't officially finish until August 2025, walking across that stage in May was a reminder that some goals may take longer than expected, but they're still worth pursuing.

The journey may have been delayed.

But it was never denied.