A determined 42-year-old woman named LaCrystal Davis has achieved her dream of graduating from the University of Alabama, United States after twenty years of trying to get educated.
Davis, a native of Ralph graduated from the University of Alabama, United States with a degree in Interdisciplinary studies after four separate enrollments t the university which spanned a total of 20 years.
She also made history as the first person in her immediate family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. I’ve had a journey. But along the way I’ve obtained life skills and a college degree to back it up. It was 20 years in the making, but I persisted. I knew I’d eventually get here, I just didn’t know how,” she said.
Davis said after graduating from Tuscaloosa County High School in 1997, she enrolled at Shelton State Community College and after completing two years of course work she was ready to transfer to a university.
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“UA was not my choice because I grew up around UA and I always thought it was just too crowded and crazy during game weekends. So I was like ‘anywhere but there,” she said. Davis said she started at the University of Alabama in 2001 to graduate in less than three years but her plans changed.
“I went from 2001 until the summer of 2004 when I had my second daughter, Madison Mayfield, who is now a 17-year-old junior at Paul W. Bryant High School. Life happened, so I took a break and came back in the fall of 2006,” she said.
Davis said she was in the university till 2007 but did not do well academically, which caused her to lose her financial aid. Without financial assistance, she could not afford to re-enroll and complete her degree, so she got a job and again put her dream on pause.
Davis said while on her way to work one day in 2016, she heard a commercial on the radio about the Back to Bama tuition grant to which she applied. She was awarded the grant, but it only covered one of her two remaining classes, so after completing the course, her dream was put on pause again.
She later came across the Bernard Osher Reentry Scholarship and she applied and received the scholarship, which paid for her final class in 2021. Davis said she plans to use her degree to advance to higher positions at Bryce Hospital where she currently works.
Davis stated that she hopes her story inspires others who haven’t finished their degrees.“I don’t feel that my story is too far from other people’s stories outside of it taking me so long,” she said.
“Life happens, but what you do in response to it develops your character. I feel like I’m not finishing late, but when God wanted me to I want people to know to never give up. Just because you don’t see a way doesn’t mean there’s not a way,” she added.
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