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Tyrone Walker had been out of school for 20 years when he decided to go back and get his degree. “I always wanted to do it, but I just kept putting it off,” Tyrone recalls.
Before college, Tyrone worked in aviation electronics for the Marine Corps, and then as a foreman at a local pecan-shelling factory in South Carolina. He had a decent job, but he wasn’t completely satisfied. Tyrone had applied for better-paying jobs several times only to be told that he needed a degree.
Everything changed the day Tyrone saw a newspaper ad that promised a scholarship, a degree, and the opportunity to learn and work while you go to school. Tyrone called Florence-Darlington Technical College, found out that financial aid was available, and that he could, in fact, work while he went to school. After 20 years of putting it off, Tyrone enrolled to get his degree.
It meant going to class in the morning, and then going to work in the afternoon and evening. It meant sometimes doing homework with his children, and sometimes doing homework late at night and on the weekends. Juggling school, work, and his family life wasn’t easy. “I didn’t get to spend as much time with my family as I would have liked, but I knew that a degree would mean better opportunities not just for me, but for my family, too. Two years of making sacrifices was worth the lifetime of what I could earn.”
After two years, Tyrone graduated with his Associate’s degree in electronic engineering technology and a job offer from Tupperware. He gets to use the math and physics he learned in school every day, monitoring the electronic technology that manufactures products. “I love my job. I have opportunities to move up. I just bought a house with five acres, and I have more time to spend with my family than I did before.”