UMGC Global Media Center Author: Mary Dempsey

The member of the Georgia Army National Guard stepped onto the stage at UMGC’s 2024 Grad Walk and proved that she can stick to a goal—even through a military deployment in Afghanistan, even through the death of her child’s father, even through a relocation.

Her master’s degree won’t be the only thing Gause is looking forward to celebrating at Grad Walk. She will also meet fellow student Donunshae Baker in person for the first time. The two women forged a strong virtual friendship while working on an assignment for an introductory communications course in their master’s programs.

Graduates who signed up for UMGC’s signature in-person commencement activities May 9-12 in Adelphi, Maryland, are among the nearly 14,000 new UMGC graduates around the world, and they are celebrating more than their new academic degrees. They are showing the world that they pushed forward—despite births and illnesses, despite relocations and demanding jobs, despite life’s other unexpected challenges—to pursue their dreams.

UMGC grad sees ways to help the deaf with their finances, especially taxes, and would especially like to boost financial knowledge of deaf high school students.

The graphic design major will be easy to spot at UMGC’s Spring 2024 Grad Walk. She is the B.A. candidate with a mortarboard bearing two hand-drawn caricatures, one of herself and the other of her father, who did not live to see his youngest child complete her academic journey.

Military veteran was only one year into his master’s program in software engineering at UMGC when he landed his dream job in Silicon Valley.