Sharon Rachelle Blackwell Schmidt.
[cheers and applause]
My name is Sharon Schmidt.
I'm here to get a Bachelor's of Science in biology.
Well, standing here, with my family with me, I just feel really excited to finally have made it.
It's been a long, almost six years and it was hard, but I just feel like it was worth it, all the hardships I've had.
So some of the opportunities that I've had since I've been here at UNG, is research trips.
I've been a part of two different research teams.
So I'm looking at schools in Florida and Hawaii, Louisiana and here in Georgia, in South Georgia, at schools for marine biology Ph.D. programs.
My number one suggestion is to have a good support system.
My number two suggestion is to just go for it. I almost didn't go back to school, or actually start school because I didn't start until I was 26. And I thought by the time I was 26, well what's the point? I could just continue to work, but then I decided to go for it and here I am.
[music]