Doniska Taylor's a college graduate

Mon, Jun 28th 2021, 10:22 AM

From laughing to crying, Doniska Taylor ran through the gamut of emotions as she held her bachelor's degree from Central State University (CSU) in a video posted to social media as she declared, "I have a degree!" Then the tears fell, and she laughed and cried simultaneously. "I have a degree ... fa, like, school.

No, fa real … that’s so good. I finished something that was really long – and hard. And then she started crying again, before the seconds-long video cut out.
Growing up, the thought of going to college was not an option for Taylor. She said it was not financially feasible for her family. With a Public School Scholars Programme (PSSP) scholarship, college became doable. Today, the 20-year-old is a graduate of CSU with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration in hospitality management and preparing to begin graduate school in August, matriculating toward a Master’s in Student Affairs and Higher Education at Wright State University (WSU), in Dayton, Ohio.
The daughter of David Taylor and Donna Sweeting, who graduated CSU in Wilberforce, Ohio, with honors, has a graduate assistantship at WSU, which ensures her tuition will be paid in full and that she will receive a monthly stipend.
The former Anatol Rodgers High School head girl has come a long way from the teenager who arrived at CSU without any family members by her side to begin a new chapter in her life that no one in her family had ever experienced, and as such could not offer her any guidance. Taylor is the first person in her family to graduate college.
She had no one in her family who could understand the struggles she endured in her freshman year as she struggled with math and not wanting to go to class because of the difficulties she had with the subject. And with no ringing bell to tell her to go to class, she said the first-year struggle was real. Taylor had to learn self-control and to do things on her own. She also had to let her guard down and depend on others as she took advantage of tutoring services, especially when it came to math.
At Central State University, Doniska Taylor had an active extracurricular life outside the classroom. She was Miss Freshman, Miss Sophomore, Miss Junior and 2020/2021 Miss Central State University.
Her first year after struggling to a 3.3 grade point average (GPA), she said she had to sit herself down and strategize, because, she said, she was not that student. She was not going to settle. And that she did not go to CSU to be average.
Sophomore year, she set a theme for herself – “elevate” – and made the decision that everything she did the year before, she would do it higher the next year. She took her GPA from 3.3 to 3.7, and then 4.0, and refused to look back over her junior and senior years.
In a little over six weeks, Taylor’s higher educational journey continues at WSU with a shift in studies, owing to the exposure she’s had in the last four years and the mentorship, which she said inculcated in her a passion for student activities.
Taylor’s accomplishment is a far cry from the young lady who, in 2017, wrote as she graduated high school, that she can recall not being the smartest child and being told in primary school that she would amount to nothing.

Growing up, the thought of going to college was not an option for Taylor. She said it was not financially feasible for her family. With a Public School Scholars Programme (PSSP) scholarship, college became doable. Today, the 20-year-old is a graduate of CSU with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration in hospitality management and preparing to begin graduate school in August, matriculating toward a Master’s in Student Affairs and Higher Education at Wright State University (WSU), in Dayton, Ohio.

The daughter of David Taylor and Donna Sweeting, who graduated CSU in Wilberforce, Ohio, with honors, has a graduate assistantship at WSU, which ensures her tuition will be paid in full and that she will receive a monthly stipend.

The former Anatol Rodgers High School head girl has come a long way from the teenager who arrived at CSU without any family members by her side to begin a new chapter in her life that no one in her family had ever experienced, and as such could not offer her any guidance. Taylor is the first person in her family to graduate college.

She had no one in her family who could understand the struggles she endured in her freshman year as she struggled with math and not wanting to go to class because of the difficulties she had with the subject. And with no ringing bell to tell her to go to class, she said the first-year struggle was real. Taylor had to learn self-control and to do things on her own. She also had to let her guard down and depend on others as she took advantage of tutoring services, especially when it came to math.

Her first year after struggling to a 3.3 grade point average (GPA), she said she had to sit herself down and strategize, because, she said, she was not that student. She was not going to settle. And that she did not go to CSU to be average.

Sophomore year, she set a theme for herself – “elevate” – and made the decision that everything she did the year before, she would do it higher the next year. She took her GPA from 3.3 to 3.7, and then 4.0, and refused to look back over her junior and senior years.

In a little over six weeks, Taylor’s higher educational journey continues at WSU with a shift in studies, owing to the exposure she’s had in the last four years and the mentorship, which she said inculcated in her a passion for student activities.

Taylor’s accomplishment is a far cry from the young lady who, in 2017, wrote as she graduated high school, that she can recall not being the smartest child and being told in primary school that she would amount to nothing.

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