韦氏词典将开拓者定义为创造、实践或发现新事物并使其被接受或流行的人。 That term couldn’t be more fitting for two ladies who will be prominently featured at 永利博彩’s graduation ceremony Thursday, 1月uary 26 at 7PM the Columbus Civic Center. 51岁的玛丽·沃克（Mary Woyke）将是永利博彩（永利博彩）大约400名符合大学毕业资格的学生之一，还有近50名学生获得了普通教育文凭。

大约25年前，沃克在高中辍学后获得了普通教育证书。 Woyke is a data specialist with the 永利博彩’s 成人教育 division and has been with Adult Ed since 2002. Several years ago, she enrolled in a technical college in Alabama but discovered the college wasn’t accredited and therefore the courses she took didn’t transfer. Woyke觉得现在是时候完成她开始的事情，获得大学学位，这样她就可以专注于新的人生篇章。 她在永利博彩的同事和主管给了她鼓励。

“She shoved me out of my nest,” Woyke said with a laugh. “Here I am helping people get their GED and maybe enroll in college yet I didn’t have a degree myself.”

玛丽·沃克（坐）与她的工作家庭海蒂·贝利（右）和成人埃德·迪尔。 霍普森4月。

Working toward that degree wasn’t easy. Woyke said it wasn’t unusual for her to go to bed at 11:00 at night and wake up at 3:30 in the morning to do homework. 所有这些努力为她赢得了一个配得上泽尔·米勒奖学金的GPA。 她还利用佩尔助学金的资金。 玛丽·沃克（Mary Woyke）将于周四获得商业管理副学士学位，她希望继续深造。

“I’m currently working on classes that will transfer to Columbus State in an IT program,” she said. “I will be attending college with my daughter this fall. 我还想告诉大家，永利博彩的老师是多么了不起。 They all go above and beyond to help their students.”

“I don’t want praise or recognition for what I’ve done,” Woyke said. “I just want to inspire others – especially single moms. Someone else can open the door but it’s up to you to step through it.”

工商管理学位毕业生Mary Woyke

她已经鼓励她的儿子和丈夫上大学。 Her husband is currently in the same program at 永利博彩 while her son is brushing up on his math skills in hopes of entering the College’s engineering program.

在开拓者和工程师这个话题上，当玛丽·沃克（Mary Woyke）和她的毕业生们等待领取文凭时，他们将听到航空航天工程师内尔达·k·李（Nelda K. Lee）的话。 李1969年毕业于奥本大学。 她是第一位驾驶F-15鹰式飞机飞行小时数的女性，并于2016年2月入选阿拉巴马州工程名人堂。 永利博彩提供工程技术副学士学位。 这个学位可以转到几所四年制大学。

航天工程师、CTC毕业典礼演讲嘉宾Nelda K. Lee