Moral of the Story; Never Give Up

Stories to pass on to your children about resiliency and goal-setting.

First up,  will you look who just received his bachelor's degree from Miami University (of Ohio) in education(!) - Pittsburgh Steeler's quarterback, Ben (Big Ben) Rosethlisberger.  He left for the NFL in 2003, 4 credits short of his degree.  He finished his degree this year and graduated on Sunday.  From Education Week's Schooled in Sports:

"To me, this is just as big, if not bigger, than winning the Super Bowl," Roethlisberger said to USA Today. "This is the Super Bowl in life."

Second, look who took 20 years but slowly and laboriously worked to receive his PhD in education (!) - Shaquille O'Neal (that's Dr. O'Neill to you and me). 

Much like Roethlisberger, no one can accuse Shaq, the four-time NBA champion and future Hall-of-Famer, of not putting in the work toward the degree. Dr. O'Neal spent the past four and a half years taking 16 courses (mainly online) and six credit hours of self-directed research, maintaining a GPA of 3.813, according to the Miami Herald.

"Everyone thinks this is honorary. But this is not honorary. I put in four and a half hard years staying up late at night, studying, reading, rewriting papers..." O'Neal said, according to the paper.


He's thinking of going to law school next.  How about being a kindergarten teacher? 

Last, from NBC news, the story of a Yugoslavian immigrant who works as a janitor at Columbia University and, in-between work and sleep, will graduate with a degree in classics.   (He was able to afford it because Columbia offers free classes to employees.)  It took him 12 years.   He came to the U.S. 20 years ago with no money, job or English speaking skills to escape political issues. 

Never give up. 

Comments

Louise said…
Ben "Multiple Sexual Assaults" Rosethlisberger is no role model. The rest of these folks are admirable.
Ben has made some pretty bad mistakes - I don't minimize them. But I also think those mistakes were a BIG wake-up call to behave like an man (and not a jerk). This might be a step in that direction.
Miss Waterlow said…
What I especially love in the story about the Yugoslavian immigrant at Columbia is that he got a degree in CLASSSICS! It gives you hope for the world.
Miss Waterlow said…
That’s right, classsssics!

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