Graduating student is living American Dream with Polk State degree
Konrad Sojko dreamed of a better life in the United States for more than a decade, and on Dec. 13, the Poland native will celebrate this achievement as he receives his Associate in Arts degree…
Graduating Polk State student doesn’t plan to use degree due to illness, but finished as an example for her children
Britainny Palmer may never use her degree due to illnesses that prevent her from working, but she was determined to graduate as an example for her three children and will celebrate this accomplishment on Dec.…
Polk State faculty and staff help student overcome adversity on path to graduation
Roxane Aupont’s mother sent her to the U.S. when she was only 15 in hopes of affording her opportunities she couldn’t obtain in Haiti. Since then, Aupont has overcome abuse and homelessness to ensure that…
Supervisor in country’s busiest ER: Polk State Nursing is top notch
Thrill of critical thinking led Polk State alum to EMS career
Allison Skinner lives for the thrill of responding quickly and critically to the needs of her patients as a paramedic with Manatee County Emergency Medical Services. And after only four years on the job, Skinner…
First-generation-in-college student “was willing to work hard, just needed guidance”
Jean Woody Luxama has had a few monumental turning points in his life. One was when he lived through the 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and injured hundreds of thousands more…
Alum, WNCC EMS Program Director Graham Judd: Polk State’s program serves as exemplary model
Polk State College alum Graham Judd says Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Program Director Don Guillette runs a tight ship, which Judd admits he didn’t fully understand when he was a student. But after more than…
First-generation-in-college student: Mom’s dreams are my dreams, my dreams are her dreams
Marielys Cirilo’s parents moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. as young adults with big dreams of going to college. But they quickly married and had children, and higher education became financially out of reach.…
Graduating student practices what she preached to her children
Teretha Robinson has attended Polk State College on and off for more than 30 years, coming up with “all of the excuses in the world” as to why she couldn’t complete her degree. “I had…
Polk State’s youngest bachelor’s student to receive degree May 3
Harrison Broer said his first day of college was weird. That’s because he was only 15 years old, and after completing his Associate in Arts degree a semester before graduating from Polk State Lakeland Collegiate…