SLIDESHOW: VCU graduation

It was a milestone for all Virginia Commonwealth University graduates, but few can claim to have worked as hard for yesterday as single mother Sabrina Walters.

Walters, 36, was one of 3,733 VCU students to receive a degree yesterday -- hers a master of science in strategic public relations. It's a goal she's been working toward since 1998 when she began taking classes at the school.

Growing up in Richmond, higher education was something Walters hoped for. But when she became pregnant with son Tarronce at the age of 15, she knew attending college would not be without challenges.

When she was 19, Walters gave birth to her daughter, Teara, and the possibility seemed further out of reach.

"I always wanted to go to school, but being a teenage mother, I just never had the means," she said.

Things didn't get any easier for the family from there.

Just months after Teara's birth, Tarronce's father died. Three months later, Teara's father also died.

"I was really a single mother at that point," she said.

With no child support and opting not to go on welfare, Walters struggled financially but never lost sight of her goals. In 1991, she began working at VCU as a secretary. In 1998, she began taking classes at the school. Despite initial setbacks, she was making progress.

"I had to withdraw a couple times," she said. "I just couldn't mentally deal with motherhood and trying to go to school and work."

But through her persistence, Walters earned her bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies in May 2006 and decided to pursue her graduate degree in mass communications -- a goal she realized yesterday.

"I knew I would get here; it just took a little while," Walters said with a laugh.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine praised that sense of commitment in his remarks yesterday as VCU's commencement speaker, speaking about a frail national economy and a turbulent international environment.

"If you want to be right, be a pessimist. If you want to do right, be an optimist," Kaine told the graduates gathered at the Richmond Coliseum.

"We can all get jaded, and we can get tired," he said. "But we need your skills, we need your energy, we need your optimism and we are counting on you."

Walters is planning to pursue a doctorate and hopes to carve a career in public relations. Following in his mother's footsteps, 21-year-old Tarronce is due to graduate with a bachelor's degree from VCU in December -- also in mass communications. Teara, 17, is set to graduate from Hermitage High School next year and also plans to attend VCU.

"Right now, I'm just breathing a big sigh of relief," said Walters, who still works for the college as an admissions coordinator for the graduate school.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.