After graduating high school, Jennifer O'Hara went right into the workforce and found some hard earned success, eventually becoming general manager at Pensacola's Honey Baked Ham store.

But while attending a conference with her company, she had an epiphany.

Imagine being in a room with all of your leaders, right?

And they're encouraging you.

And a spark happened, encouraging you to be who you could be and what you could be and how to dream big.

And I realized I needed a college degree to do so.

That's what was missing.

You know, to go to that next step and that next level.

23 years after graduating high school, Jennifer took a leap of faith and enrolled at Pensacola State College in 2013.

And balancing a full time career and going to school full time.

We had a lot of challenges.

Caffeine was great.

I stayed up really late, along with the classes and knowledge she was seeking.

Her journey at PSC was greatly enhanced by pivotal mentors, including business school professor Doctor Brian Ward, his servant leadership style, the way he teaches, the way he, you know, just pours into his students was apparent from the very first course.

Every once in a while, you'll have that one student that comes in and just captures you from the beginning.

Because of their work ethic, the quality of work they do, the passion that they bring to their studies.

And I saw that immediately with her.

He invited me in to become my advisor and helped me with that second part of my BA degree and helped me roadmap the courses that were going to help me be successful in my career, and the things I needed to do and took that personal interest.

Another game changer was Professor Michael Johnston.

Although Jennifer never actually took a course with him, struggles in statistics prompted her to seek a tutor.

And her professor asked Johnston to suggest someone, I get a chat message and ask me how I was doing.

Did I have an opportunity to meet with a tutor?

And I said, well, they weren't available.

And next he says, would you meet me at 5:00 at Barnes and Noble?

And I said, seriously, you'll you'll.

And he said, yes.

And so went there.

He helped me through the statistics, taught me great things, and I walked out of there with a mentor and friend and just a pivotal moment.

Someone's going to reach out and try to find help.

I don't mind stepping in to help them.

She was just one that always wanted to continue to do better and take advantage of the collegiate opportunities and work with her colleagues and her faculty and her mentor and her friends.

And that that drives me for the similar type of yearning to want to help her do that as well.

Jennifer completed an associate's degree in business administration and then moved on to pursue a Bachelors in Business Management, concentrating in human resources.

Along the way, she earned a place in the Robinson Honors Program, and that's where she met director Amber Carey.

She just walks in and she is a ray of sunshine.

Like she just brings light to the room.

She brings joy.

I think she approaches everything she does with that concept through the lens of joy.

How can I get joy out of this?

How can I do the best job possible?

And I remember meeting her and thinking, this person is going places to she advocate for people.

Does she pour into people?

She's just amazing and just really kindled a relationship.

And just that advisory role and everything that she did and helping me to believe more and achieve more.

Jennifer maintained a 4.0 GPA, and her major was named a Maxwell scholar of the month for the entire Florida college system and was chosen to speak at her commencement ceremony upon graduating in 2018.

The payoff was immediate.

Before I could walk across the stage, I was having interviews and being selected to move to our customer support center in Georgia.

Jennifer landed a corporate job at Honeybee Cam headquarters in Atlanta as retail operations manager, leading over 200 stores.

And she's progressed to become the chain's supply planning manager.

The education that I was given here.

I have applied it in so many ways.

There are courses that I took that I wasn't sure that I needed to take for an HR degree, but I've used them so many times.

I never in a million years imagined that coming to Pensacola State College would open up the wealth of opportunities that I've had.

When I see my students succeed.

That's where the real source of pride come from.

When I see people like Jennifer really take the world by storm, I think to myself, I knew it.

You know, you could see it early on, but so happy for her because she deserves it.

We know that that our purpose extends beyond ourselves, and we know that every day, the things that we do in the way we hold ourselves and the way we we portray our experiences in the classroom or even outside the classroom, that they have an effect on people that maybe we don't always recognize immediately, but they can take those experiences and they can learn from them.

I use Jennifer as an example to my students of what you can do if you pursue, you work hard and you pursue your passion and your degree here what you can do in the future.

It's amazing to see students like Jennifer go out in the community and continue to come and give back to PSC and to their community here.

We're creating leaders here at the college, and then they in turn, turn around and create new leaders.

And it's just it's really nice and very satisfying to see that.

I came back to college thinking I was earning a degree and I got so much more.

I got community and friends in support.

They give of themselves.

They're so ready to give it themselves, and I'm that amazing lucky recipient.