Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: The road to the arena
The road to the arena
May 14, 2008
Somewhere in the seemingly endless sea of black caps and complimenting gowns, a single mother waits to walk across the commencement stage. She may be lost in the crowd tonight, but the path of perseverance that led her to MBU’s 36th Commencement is nothing less than extraordinary.
Cynthia Grochowski’s husband died suddenly a month before their youngest son was born. It was that unforeseen tragedy that prompted the mother of three young boys to enroll at Missouri Baptist University’s Jefferson College Extension.
Grochowski, along with more than 700 candidates for graduation, waits for her degree to be conferred at MBU's 36th Commencement.
“My family is No. 1,” she explained. “I knew I had to do better for them. There wasn’t really a choice. No matter what happens, you can overcome through your faith.”
On April 29, Grochowski’s perseverance—and faith—paid off when she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She’s hoping to land a job as a special education teacher next fall.
The road that led her to the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., has been windy and, at times, rough. Earlier this year, her youngest son, now 10, was diagnosed with cancer. His prognosis is good with continued treatments; however, while others may have opted to take a semester off or drop out of school altogether, such a frightening scenario only affirmed Grochowski’s need for college education.
Grochowski’s hard-earned degree was one of 715 conferred April 29 inside The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. She was a part of the largest graduating class in MBU history—a scenario that has, with one exception, repeated itself every year for the last decade.
The number of degrees conferred was nearly 20 percent more than just last year when a record 574 students graduated from MBU.
As the customary MBU commencement reverberations of bagpipes began, a hush fell over the thousands who filled the arena. Led by the John Ford Highland Pipe Band, hundreds of MBU graduates, whose educational pursuits were as diverse as the 2008 class itself, filed into the arena. From hundreds of teachers in waiting, like Grochowski, to the first-ever Worship Arts graduate, this year’s graduating class was awarded degrees or certificates in nearly 50 academic areas.
MBU yielded its first graduating class from the Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC). Thirty-seven MAC degrees were conferred. The MAC degree meets all of the requirements for Missouri Certification as an Elementary and Secondary School Guidance Counselor and uniquely meets all of the academic requirements necessary to obtain a Professional Counselor Licensure in Missouri. The MAC program began last year as an offshoot of the Master of Science in Education with an emphasis in Counseling.
As Grochowski’s name was read, she took a short stride across the commencement platform. Screams of jubilation could be heard from the far end of the arena. They were no doubt from those who have watched their mother, daughter and friend reach a goal that she was determined to accomplish — no matter how windy or rough the road.
“No matter whatever happens in your lifetime, you can overcome with you faith,” she said. “God gives me the tools to handle anything that comes my way.”
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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