"Subject: Thank You For An Unforgettable Commencement Experience"
Those were the first words Carmen Glenn, a first grade teacher from Clinton Township, Michigan, near Detroit, wrote to Grand Canyon University, now her alma mater.
Before Glenn even boarded her flight to Phoenix, she felt something special – something wonderful – about the campus that she, an online master’s student, had never visited.
The ticket agent saw that Glenn was carrying a graduation cap and asked, “Where are you graduating from? There’s a lot of people going to graduations.”
“I’m graduating from GCU,” Glenn told her.
As it turns out, the ticket agent had lived in Arizona and moved to Michigan when her husband got a job in the area.
“She (the ticket agent) said, ‘GCU is a wonderful school. They really take care of their students.’”
Even on the plane, Glenn saw other graduates headed to the final day of GCU’s fall commencement ceremonies on Friday.
And a woman on the plane told her, “Congratulations.”
“Everybody knew (about GCU). They only had positive things to say about the school and how nice it was.”
So nice that Glenn felt compelled to tell the university about her experience.
“I had to write a letter and let them know. I can’t let this NOT be known,” she said, beginning her email with:
“From the moment my journey began, I experienced so much kindness and encouragement that made this milestone even more meaningful.”
Glenn’s college journey began when her children were little and she was a paraprofessional in her children’s school.
“I would go up to my kids’ school when they were younger and I would volunteer in their classes. Their principal hired me as a para, and I thought, I think I love this.”
She loved it so much that she decided to become a teacher. It seemed that was where God was leading her, she said.
“As a kid, I always said that I was going to be something special. And I always wanted to be a teacher.”
Even when she was a little girl, playing school with her cousins, “if they didn’t let me be the teacher, I didn’t want to play.” Her cousins remind her of that to this day.
Although being a paraprofessional was something she loved doing, something that filled her cup, it wasn’t something that was financially enriching.
“I’m like, this isn’t helping me, though. Paras only make $9 an hour. That doesn’t pay anything, you know? So that made me start back to school.”
And as it does, life got in the way.
She got sick, stopped going to school and wasn’t able to complete her degree when she was younger.
That changed after her children became adults and Glenn thought, “Well, I can finish now.”
It was her uncle who encouraged her to finish what she started.
“My uncle, who was more like my dad … he said, ‘I want you to continue what you said you are going to do. I believe in you.’”
So Glenn returned to college, receiving her bachelor’s degree from Rochester Christian University in 2022, though that accomplishment wasn’t something her uncle would get to see. He passed away just before she finished her degree and became a teacher.
She teaches at Warrendale Charter Academy in Detroit.
“I love the kids,” she said about what motivates her. “I could be having a bad day and I’m going to class and they just hug you, and they’re so innocent. They’ll say, ‘I love you, Ms. Glenn!’ And I’ll tell them I love them and I’ll get like 100 pictures a day.”
It’s fulfilling, she said, to see the fruits of her labors – the learning and the progress that her students make.
“I’ll get a kid that can’t read, and by the time it’s the fourth month of school and they’re reading, and they’re happy. Just to see the happiness on their faces that they’re able to do it.
“It makes me feel good.”
Her uncle also didn’t get to see that Glenn would surprise herself and go beyond her bachelor’s.
GCU university development representative Stacey Chandler is in her school regularly and, four years ago, asked if she wanted to go for her master’s.
“She’s like, ‘What are you waiting for?’”
Glenn responded, “I don’t know.”
She didn’t say it back then, but Glenn said she was afraid and getting older and didn’t know if this was the right path to follow.
But two years later, when Chandler came back around, this time Glenn told her, “OK, I’m ready.”
On Friday, she celebrated the completion of her master’s degree in early childhood education.
When Glenn finally arrived on campus, she couldn’t believe how polite the students were, like one student on a scooter that her husband stopped to ask, “Hey, my guy, where can we go to get something to eat?”
He was excited to point them to Lopes Way and one of Glenn’s favorites, Panda Express.
Or the student who gave Glenn her lotion after hearing she was looking for lotion and couldn’t find any in the Lope Shop.
As an older graduate, I was especially touched to see younger students showing such kindness and respect. I truly felt surrounded by love.
Carmen Glenn, who received her master's degree from GCU at fall commencement
“She told me, ‘Keep it.’ That I could have it. That was another memorable moment. She didn’t have to do that.”
Or the students she described in her email who were so polite and welcoming.
“They congratulated me and even stepped aside to let me walk through,” she wrote.
“Those small gestures made me feel important and celebrated. As an older graduate, I was especially touched to see younger students showing such kindness and respect. I truly felt surrounded by love."
And commencement itself? Glenn said it was so wonderful that she hinted in her email that all the kindness and welcoming spirit she received make her want to move to Phoenix.
Glenn said she must have zoned out because after watching the commencement ceremony video online, she didn’t remember the speakers or much of what happened during the ceremony.
“I was looking around at everybody else,” she said. “There were adults my age and younger kids. There was a young lady that was sitting next to me, and I think she said she was 29. She kept hugging me. I hugged her, and she hugged me again. It was so amazing, just different ages and different nationalities.
“I was just in awe, thinking, oh my goodness. I really did it.”
Then when her master’s hood was placed on her, she said she wanted to cry but held back.
“It was such a wonderful feeling,” she said, and worth all the hard times on the journey to get that degree.
She now has two degrees under her belt and is thinking of her uncle.
“I hope he’s watching, and I hope he saw,” she said.
And he has more to see.
“I have officially submitted my application for the doctoral program."
As she shared with GCU in her email:
“This was truly an exceptional experience. I am proud to be a GCU alumna. … After such a positive experience, I would not want to continue my education anywhere else.”
GCU Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected].
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