KNOXVILLE – When Shawn McClure was growing up, education was a discussion item in the household but not valued.
Tusculum student Shawn McClure speaks at the First Scholars Appreciation Week event at the university’s Knoxville campus.
Then, well into adulthood, she started seeing billboards and advertisements for Tusculum University and noticed the higher education institution at career fairs at her job in Sevier County.
“I took it as a sign from the Lord and filled out my application,” McClure shared at a First Scholars Appreciation Week celebration held Tuesday, Nov. 5, at Tusculum’s Knoxville campus. “I’m glad I did because apart from my salvation in Christ, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
McClure, who is 41 years old, will receive a bachelor’s degree from Tusculum in December in interdisciplinary studies, which prepares graduates to be licensed to teach kindergarten through fifth grade. She wants to continue her education afterward, pursuing an education specialist degree and a doctorate.
The First Scholars Appreciation Week event is part of a weeklong celebration Tusculum is holding at its Greeneville, Knoxville and Morristown locations. It highlights accomplishments of first-generation students, who earn that status if their parents do not hold a bachelor’s degree. Tusculum serves these students with two Student Support Services programs, three Upward Bound programs and two Educational Talent Search programs under the TRIO umbrella.
McClure has been a member of ARCHES, the SSS program for adult and online studies students, since she enrolled at Tusculum. Based on a trip she made with Tusculum to a program at Clemson University, she wants to merge her experience and love for special needs children, with whom she has worked for 22 years, and SSS to serve them in higher education.
“My experience at Tusculum has catapulted me into this unforgettable journey that has forever changed my self-awareness and self-esteem.” McClure said. “I went from a very close-minded and sheltered girl to a very confident and open-minded woman. My growth mindset skyrocketed from being a part of this university and the Student Support Services group. So many doors and opportunities have been opened for me that never would have been possible before.”
Sanford Miller, a Tusculum alumnus and Board of Trustees member, speaks at the First Scholars Appreciation Week event at the university’s Knoxville campus.
Another participant in Tuesday’s program was Sanford Miller, a Tusculum Board of Trustees member who experienced many ups and downs as a college student before landing at Tusculum. By the time he arrived at the Knoxville campus, he was working in the financial sector and discovered the classes he took at Tusculum helped supplement his knowledge and prepared him for further success.
After he graduated from Tusculum as a first-generation student in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in organizational management, Miller was able to join the university’s Presidential Advisory Council in Knoxville. Later, he joined the staff of Emerald Youth Foundation, where he serves as director of sports ministry. Then, in 2018, Miller was asked to join Tusculum’s Board of Trustees, which he said is one of the highest honors he has received in his life.
“I know what college can do for a kid,” Miller said. “This has given me an opportunity to speak on a higher platform and be able to give kids an opportunity to show that you shouldn’t shy away from the smaller schools such as Tusculum that are invested in the community and invested in kids’ lives and their future. Just know that one day you could be up here giving your testimony and sharing your story and have an impact on lives in your family and your community.”
Also sharing a story was Polly Cowart, another first-generation student, who graduated from Tusculum in December with an interdisciplinary studies degree. She described her initial college experiences after graduating from high school in the early 1990s that did not go well. She switched her focus to marriage and having children and worked in preschool for 15 years before deciding to try college again.
Polly Cowart, a Tusculum alumna, speaks at the First Scholars Appreciation Week event at the university’s Knoxville campus.
Her search led her to Tusculum, and when she visited the Knoxville the campus the first time, she was accepted into the university and signed up for classes. Once enrolled, she became involved in ARCHES.
“Every time I walked in the door, someone greeted me and told me, ‘You can do it,’” Cowart said. “I learned to believe in myself, and I learned to believe that I was worth it. So with two children in school and working full time, I came to Tusculum and I became a teacher. I proved to my children that I could work, I could go to school and I could do it all at the same time and be a mom.”
Tusculum will hold its final First Scholars Appreciation Week event Thursday, Nov. 7, at 5 p.m. at the Knoxville campus.