SAN ANTONIO – As KSAT12 continues to celebrate great graduates around San Antonio, this week’s spotlight goes to graduate Gloria Reyes.
Reyes recently walked the stage, as a graduate from Texas A&M-University San Antonio.
Reyes has dyslexia. But that didn’t stop her from earning two degrees, nearly a decade apart.
Her journey to earn that second degree, however, wasn’t easy.
Reyes knew she wanted to return for her master’s degree after walking the stage in 2012 with a Bachelor’s in Arts and Science.
Shortly after however, she was faced with a family emergency that made her a single mother of two.
Reyes took in her two nieces and raised them as her own. Reyes says she believes in being a role model to her children, teaching them that anything is possible, no matter how hard things are.
When Reyes returned to school for her master’s, she was staying up late to study, and to do homework. She made meeting with her teachers a top priority. Reyes says it was all worth it in the end.
“I went to go try on the cap and gown, and when I tried it on in the mirror it was a tearful moment. ‘Wow I did it, we did it.’ I told my girls it wasn’t just my accomplishment, you helped me get there, you were my motivation,” she said.
We asked Reyes what advice she has for college students today, especially those with a learning disability.
“To reach out and ask for help, the worst anyone can tell you is no. If you’re already expecting the no and you don’t go ask for the help, then you never know what the yes could have been. If you have a learning disability its not anything to be ashamed of, it just means you learn differently. There is a light, give it to God and just let go, that’s what I’ve been doing,” she said.
Reyes says she plans to use her new degree to work in the aviation field.