FORT VALLEY, Ga. — One Fort Valley State University student is getting ready to walk across the stage. But the road to get there came with some unique challenges.
It's just about time for winter break at Kaye Road Elementary School in Peach County.
As the students get ready for the last day before Christmas break. Student-Teacher Tre Lawson is preparing for his last day as a student-teacher before he graduates.
"To be able to go to into a profession I have finally fallen in love with, I'm going to become a teacher and It's just, graduating from college is amazing, it's no other feeling you will ever have," Lawson said.
The road to college graduation was anything but easy for Lawson after he got into a bad car accident back in 2017.
"A car accident happened leaving from a track meet, I was with my friend and one of my friends fell asleep driving behind the wheel, which resulted paralyzed from the waist down, I broke my back," Lawson said.
Lawson also suffered a brain injury and dealt with abdominal injuries as well. Through recovery, Lawson says the Shepard Center helped him power through the good and sometimes dark times.
"My body was probably torn up but my mind was destroyed the most, so they helped with mental therapy as well as physical therapy," Lawson said.
By the fall of 2018, Lawson enrolled in Fort Valley State University and found a new sense of belonging.
"I feel like Fort Valley State helped me be the person I was today. Just for me, going to that campus, and still being able to open my eyes and meet people who treat me the same," Lawson said.
In 2019, we shared a video of Lawson walking around a track that went viral on social media. On Saturday, December 10, Lawson is hoping to reach a new goal.
"I finally get to physically walk across the stage, it's just an amazing obstacle that I am truly proud to be accomplishing," Lawson said.
That's right, Lawson plans on walking across the stage Saturday. It's a goal for the former track star who thought he lost it all but regained his strength.
"There is not mountain too tall and there is no valley that is too shallow for you to climb over and overcome things." Lawson said.
At Kaye Road Elementary, Lawson has teachers who have become family, and everyone speaks highly of them.
"He is just a phenomenal person to have in our building working with our boys and girls," Principal Brandon Hall said.
With Lawson closing the chapter of his life at Fort Valley State University, he is looking forward to helping the next generation and continuing to let everyone know that with hard work you can get across any finish line.