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Hi, I’m Ms. Tawanna Woods and I am a graduate student with the Marriage and Family Program
here at Valdosta State University. I will be graduating December 7 with my Master’s
in the program. I am a single parent. I have a feisty 5-year-old son. His name is Mason
Tyler Woods. I am originally from Michigan, Detroit, Michigan actually. My parents moved
us here when I was in elementary school, so I have been here most of my life. Back in
July, I met a psychologist; I had already known her through the industry, through work
of being a therapist. She offered me a position and I was shocked because it is a private
practice. She knew that I didn’t graduate until December but she held a position for
me. That in itself was a blessing. She knew of the reputation of Valdosta State University
and she knew of my work ethic. She has heard nothing but wonderful things about the program.
So, when you put all that in a pot, she had a very nice offer for me. I accepted it and
I will start the Monday after graduation. I finally learned the meaning of bittersweet.
While I am so excited in one hand to have this amazing job offer; in the next hand,
I am leaving my safety net. I said I wasn’t going to cry. The protection that I have always
had here, I’m now leaving that. I’ll still have ties with my professors and I will still
have ties with the students, but I will miss being here every day. I will miss…when I
say safety and protection, it is very hard, especially in South Georgia to be an African
American woman. It’s extremely hard. It’s even hard to be a single parent as an African
American woman without being looked at or stigmatized or what have you. When I enter
those doors, they see Tawanna. They know my race, they know my gender, and they know that
I am a single parent. They know all that, but they looked past all that and they actually
see me. That is the experience that I have actually gotten here, that I’ve never had
anywhere else. So for me to leave that day-to-day, that comfort zone, that I can always call
them for whatever is, whether it’s a question about school, whether it’s something about
work, whether it’s something about motherhood. For me to like not have that every single
day it’s bitter sweet. It really and truly is.