College graduation is a special time for anyone. Similarly, this woman had been working hard toward her degree for the last few years. But when the day of her graduation ceremony rolled around, something happened which could have gotten in the way of her walking across the stage.
Keep reading to know more about this inspiring story.
Kelsey Hudie was all set for her college graduation. Like any other person, she was excited for the occasion where she would walk across the stage and receive her diploma in front of a crowd of people watching her.
Hudie was set to graduate from Henry Ford College on Saturday. But even before the ceremony began, the first-time mom realized she would be in labor when the day of the graduation ceremony rolled around.
“On the Tuesday before we graduated, they said that I was dilated two or three times, so that wasn’t going to stop me from walking across the stage,” Hudie said. “I even said if I had her before the walk, I was just going to hold her in my arms and walk across that stage.”
Luckily for Hudie, her aunt worked for the college and got in touch with the administration to explain the situation to them. Minutes before the ceremony began, her aunt go in touch with them and they quickly agreed to make a minor change to the program. Hudie has been working towards her liberal arts degree at the college since 2018.
“I want to be a teacher in the end, so I’m going to transfer to Eastern,” Hudie said.
At the ceremony itself, Henry Ford College President Russell A. Kavalhuna addressed the crowd and said, “I have to tell you, I wasn’t planning to speak this earlier in our commencement.” He added, “I hope you will allow me to quickly move through one degree before we do the rest of you all.”
The administration was more than happy to switch the order around the accommodate the student. “They all were just so polite,” Hudie recalls. “I was able to sit on the stage, so I didn’t have to, like, walk up and down a million sets of stairs.”
She got her degree and as she received it, hundreds of people in the audience cheered for her. Now the new mother has a wonderful story to tell her daughter Nyla when the little girl grows up.
“I don’t really like to make a big show about things, but I figured since they were making a big show about it, I have to finish it,” Hudie said. “I just had to show it off like I finally did it. We finally did.”