{"id":938,"date":"2012-05-16T14:43:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T21:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/?p=938"},"modified":"2012-05-16T14:43:35","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T21:43:35","slug":"graduation-feature-uccs-staff-member-son-to-graduate-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/?p=938","title":{"rendered":"Graduation feature: UCCS staff member, son to graduate together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend UCCS graduation ceremonies scheduled for 10 a.m. May 18 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. Please call Tom Hutton, (719) 351-6519<\/span> for assistance. High-resolution photographs of Lucero are available at <\/strong>http:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Twenty-three years ago, Melissa Lucero, an administrative assistant at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs was a pregnant first-year California community college student.<\/p>\n

She quit school, went to work full-time and leaned heavily on family for support. Times were tough as she struggled to raise the four-pound, one-month premature boy with the help of her grandparents.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Melissa Lucero, left, and her son Jeff Tejada, will earn degrees from UCCS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Lucero, now 43, isn\u2019t looking backward. On May 18, she and son, Jeff Tejada, will both participate in UCCS commencement exercises. Lucero will earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in communication and Tejada a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science. Though Lucero must still take a summer class, she will participate in ceremonies with her son, now more than six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds.<\/p>\n

Commencement ceremonies are scheduled for 10 a.m. May 18 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. There are 1,258 students who will graduate, a record. About 870 are expected to participate in ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little late,\u201d Lucero said. \u201cMy goal was to finish by the time I was 40. When I found out Jeff was going to graduate, I knew I had to step it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucero worked with her supervisor, Cindy Corwin, director, Human Resources to squeeze in as many classes as possible to complete the degree she started at another university in 2005 and continued at UCCS after her 2008 arrival. Balancing the demands of five children and a full-time job processing payroll, administering CU Jobs postings, and assisting classified staff members was a challenge.<\/p>\n

Lunch hours and weekends were sacrificed. Work hours were adjusted and Lucero found herself staying late as well as studying alongside her four younger children still living at home. While hectic, Lucero knows that she established a strong role model for her children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed my classes but I want my lunchtime and weekends back,\u201d Lucero said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Her advice to others considering starting a degree or finishing one started years ago is simple. Talk to your supervisor about a flexible schedule and have a support system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost quit lots of times,\u201d Lucero said. \u201cI\u2019d tell my husband I was going to skip class and we\u2019d go out to dinner or something. His response was \u2018go to class, we\u2019ll go out tomorrow night.\u2019 That kind of support kept me working toward my goal. I\u2019m thankful I had it.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 36 bachelor\u2019s degrees, 19 master\u2019s degrees, and five doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 9,300 students annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend UCCS graduation ceremonies scheduled for 10 a.m. May 18 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. Please call Tom Hutton, (719) 351-6519 for assistance. High-resolution photographs of (Full Press Release)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pressreleases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":953,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}