UMGC Unstoppable Stories The Best of 2025

Voiceover:
Welcome to the UMGC podcast “Unstoppable Stories,” with your host Lauren Cardillo. 

Lauren Cardillo:
During this past year we’ve shared with you some of the best memories from our graduates about how they transformed their lives. Now we’ve combined a bit of all 24 episodes into this podcast. So, sit back, get comfy and listen to their Unstoppable Stories – once again.  

Deshauna Barber:
I think it was one of my first real life lessons that perseverance and tenacity is a requirement to succeed. There is absolutely no way to experience achievement without staying persistent on this road to success and that we always say, you know, a door shut is not a door closed. It's not a door locked, it's not a door cemented, it is just a door that's currently closed. 

So, for Miss USA, I was not ready to be Miss USA, my first year of competing at the state level, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth. It, I wasn't truly ready until the seventh time. Um, and I evolved version of myself. So, it's also just remaining faith filled and, and knowing that when your time comes, it'll be the perfect timing. It's not when you want it to happen; it's when it's supposed to happen. 

Robert Blackwell:
I got told no, uh, one time, you know, for a promotion that I clearly was, uh, eligible to do. I had the experience. I knew what needed to be done, but I didn't meet the minimum requirements, which was having a bachelor's degree. And that's someone telling you no, that's just, it's a non-starter for me. 

So, I said, "I never want to feel this way again.” So, hey, I registered to go to school.  

So I'm thriving in my career at a very young age, I'm making good money, you know, all blessings as I said, and, uh, did great in the interview, everybody knew, like, Rob is the one for the job, well, per HR, we can't put him in a position because he doesn't have the degree. 

I said, “oh, wow, I never wanted to experience that ever again.” 

D'Yanna Craighead:
It wasn't something anybody in the family was doing or even understood what it was. And then I remember, uh, showing her a newspaper clipping because that's where jobs were posted. I'm telling my age here, but that's where jobs were posted. And so, I paid for this newspaper clipping and I showed like what I could make out of college, like right out of college. And it was a salary that like many family members. weren't making, you know, she actually said something that was like a gut punch, but it opened my eyes to some of the struggles in life that I began to face, which was, but you're not going to make that salary because you're black. And I remember just like, you know, my face always tells you how I'm feeling, even if I don't say it out loud and she, I didn't respond, but my face was in shock.  

I felt like she was trying to crush my dreams, but she was trying to protect me from the ugliness in the world, you know? And so, me being who I am, uh, I was like, I'm gonna prove you wrong. 

Mark Driscoll:
Antarctica is absolutely beautiful, but there are a lot of misconceptions. They say, well, the sun's gonna set, you know, in a couple of weeks and it's not gonna come back. And they start talking to me about this thing called Polar T three syndrome. And what happens is it if impacts your thyroid hormones and it really just messes with your mind in a way that I cannot accurately explain. 

Like it kind of makes you like a walking zombie going around. And the best way to combat that and actually stay, for lack of better terms, a person that people wanna be around is to stay mentally engaged.  

And what I end up doing is I think, well, you know, what? If the best way to combat this is to keep my mind engaged, let's, let's fire up those classes again. Let's start taking 'em. 

But at the time that I was down there, we had 135 people sharing the equivalent of DSL based Wi-Fi.   
I sent a message to one of my public safety admin instructors and said, “hey. If I'm down here, this is my situation; it's the first day of class. Let me know if this is going to be a problem.” And he sent back an email. Kind of laughing at the situation and, and saying, “hey, you're the first person I've ever had that's had in this situation.” 

Lakia Elam:
I became a teen mom. Ended up, we did, we ended up homeless for different reasons, right? We, we were, we did not have any way to live and we were sleeping on a mattress at a friend's house. And my daughter, she was just barely two and I remember saying to her, I was just talking out loud. I wasn't even talking to her and I was like, you know, nobody believes in us. 

No one is here with us. We don't have anyone. I have no friends. And you know what? This little, this little person said to me, she used to call me Kiki. She said, “Kiki, I'm here with you. I'll always be here with you. I'm never going to leave you.” Can you imagine hearing those words? Come out of a barely two year old's mouth. 

Nathan James: 
Two. Two years old.  

Lakia Elam: 
Two. I, you know, in those moments, it was things like that that would happen, that would shift me. That would pick me up and be like someone's watching.  

Immanuel Patton: 
I'll always hear people talking about like, oh, I have my degree, I have my bachelor's. I have. And so the thing was it just didn't have that degree though. Because she always had to postpone for other things, like making sure my sister and myself were all taken care of. She would always put us first and everything else, like her family. And so seeing that to me was like, I was just young, just sitting in the back of the car, just listening. 

Carolyn Patton: 
I never would've thought about that. He would want me to, uh, graduate with him at that time. Finally when I submitted all my credits and they sent me an email said, look, you, you are able to march you, you are able to graduate. 
And I told Immanuel, I said, “guess what? I think I'm gonna be able to graduate with you.” He said, “see, that's what's up. That's what's up.” He said, “Mom, I didn't doubt it, I knew that we were going to do this.” 

Lynette Lamp:
I found out that I was pregnant in March of my senior year and I just was open and honest with my teachers and I was like, “hey guys, so this is what's going on. I'm still dedicated to doing my work and showing up when I can.” So I got a lot of teacher support to help me graduate. I graduated with like a 4.02 or something like that. Um, so I was taking an honors class even then. And I still, you know, went to college after I had graduated high school. Um, but when I had my second son at 20, that's when it was like, oof, um, I'm going to have to definitely put education on the back burner for a little bit, survive this time of life. 

It was not an easy path, path whatsoever. Um, I became a widow also when I was 23, so I had my third son by that point. Um, and they were five and three and four months old. And that was definitely the last, like, real big struggle, real hard life experience that I personally experienced where I benefited. from therapy, and I benefited from counseling, um, that I realized that, like, I needed to start, like, giving back, and I, that was something that I wanted to then be able to do for other people, um, cause it saved my life, so it was valuable to me, and it was something that I really felt like more people were going to need, 

Brandon Blackwell:
A pivotal moment where I really dug into this, though, was after I end up suffering that ACL tear in college. Very first game, first play. So, I get a carry, you know, it's a routine tackle, go get an assessment. It is really that bad .  
So, I come out of surgery, I'm in strict pain. And so I'm laying in the bed and I'm looking at my knee, bandaged up, can't move it. Um. And it's like, okay, are we going to go back to this? What is plan B?  

So that's when I started going to rehab. That's when it's a big brother. What does this look like? What are some of the things I need to be doing? What should I be saying? How, you know, how do I navigate this environment? Because it's completely different to what I've been doing for the past, you know, 13 years of my life. 

So, I'm taking the same amount of effort and energy that I was putting to going to work out going to practices, film and study and putting that here. 

Nathan James: 
More than half of our students here at UMGC are military now, or have been in the past. Their stories of achievement and perseverance are some of our most riveting.  

Caitlin Bassett:
It's not that I wasn't afraid of failure. I was terrified of failure, but I was more afraid of living a life full of choices that I regretted. 

My grandfather was in World War II and my dad was in Vietnam and you know, there had always been kind of a representation 
Um, and I, I do remember a specific moment where my dad was, we were watching the towers fall and my dad was kind of, he was crying on the couch. And I'd never seen my dad cry. And I, and I asked why, and he said, there's just a lot of old vets like me out there that wish they could do something about this and they can't, uh, and they're too old. And there's something in me then, I was 11 years old, I kind of knew then I was probably going to go at some point. And then, and then it just kind of ended up coming to fruition. 

Um, the first time I tried to land at FOB Shank, we couldn't land because the. The air, this airstrip was being bombed. So, we had to, we had to come up. Yeah, it was crazy Like, oh, and it was very like, welcome to Afghanistan.  

Zachry Flores:
We ended up, yeah, we fought for like a good like. 30 to 35 minutes, which is like an eternity. We had no casualties, um, on our end. Um, we were out there for a while. I mean, we're, 'cause you know, the mission lasted long before that. So, we were getting low on water, low on ammunition. And then, you know, once we break contact. Or once we get the Apaches in the air you see 'em coming over the edge, you're like, yes. You know, you know. 'cause I mean, that was one of my go-tos. We were like, it started happening. Boom. I was calling,  

We came back and, you know, and when we decompress, you just sit there and you just, you just like, you know, thinking like, yo! What just happened and how are, you know, and everyone had to self-cope, you know, and, you know, and a lot of that coping didn't really come into effect to later years and everything. That's why I'm able to talk about it now, you know?  

Ginger Miller:
So, we started, um, WVI in 2011. Now we're talk about 2024, the issues that women veterans had. Then they continue to have, we've made some progress, but not enough because as women veterans, we are part of the women's movement. So, when you look at how hard it is, let's say, for women like your mother and your aunts and the women who have come before us, we are part of that. I consider women veterans to be just a little bit more special because we were, we raised our right hand to serve as sacrifice for this country. So, we should be getting a little more support, a lot more support, because as women veterans, we have left our kids to go and fight for this country. Like I have members of the organization who have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan and left their kids when they were like six months old. Then you come back and your kids don't even know who you are; your children are afraid of you. And then you have some women who get out the military like myself, who become homeless with children. 
There is never a reason to give up. I don't care if your bills are stacked up. If you’re on the street, reach out for help. That's my advice. Don’t ever give up.  

James Rodriguez: 
I grew up, as I mentioned, a small town in Texas, population of about 7,000. It's probably grown about 200 by now and over the last 30 plus years.  

I lived in the projects. I grew up, my mother was 16 years old when she had me. I was the first of eight. And, by default, I wound up living with my grandmother. So, my grandmother's the one who raised me for the majority of my life. And, uh, through that process I did understand that, uh, yeah, education was key to a pathway of success. 

And I knew I didn't have the financial means to go to college, but. The military was my next opportunity to make that dream come true. So, early on when I was in high school, I decided I was gonna join the military and I was gonna join the Marine Corps. And because of, uh, that commitment personally, I. That, uh, I wound up graduating high school where a lot of my relatives and friends didn't graduate high school and they went on different paths if you want to call it that. 

And uh, the Marine Corps was my first iteration into looking at how I could build a career for myself. And then eventually as I got married and uh, had a children, that was my next opportunity to build a career for myself. 'cause I started, served 21 years there. 

I mean that's sometimes that was, uh, in many cases, that was some of the most proudest moments when you would see someone, uh, who, uh. Took your advice, took your mentorship, and actually excelled. Because just like with your children, you always want people to do better than you, right?  

You want your children to do better than you, whether it's professional, personal, whatever it is. It's the same thing for young Marines. When you're a Marine and you are leading younger marines, you want them to do better as well. 

Merissa Blackwell:
And so my instructors, um, throughout high school always saw something in me in regards to like, leadership. And I'm, I'm the quiet girl off to the side, and I'm just like, Nope, that ain't me. Uh, but they always made sure, uh, to give me opportunities. And once you give me the opportunity, then it's up to me to, to decide where I take it. 
And I always took it. Uh, to where it needed to be. And then I ended up my senior year in high school being the commander of our N-J-R-O-T-C, uh, high school unit.

I'm always a leader 24 7, regardless of if my uniform is on or not. I'm still a leader, and so I have to make sure that people who are under my leadership, they're taken care of, they're getting paid. We still have to deal with the normal things, right? 

If I'm not meeting the standard, then they're gonna be like, well, she not meeting the standard, so I don't have to do that. 
And so they also wanna see how you respond. To certain things and it's a lot going on right now, but it's how you respond and how do you lead in this moment 

Andre Taylor: 
I was working, um, full-time while I was in high school. I worked 40 hours a week and, um, it was during the time when, uh, things were really ramping up in Iraq and Afghanistan for the United States. So we have recruiters everywhere. 

And they're talking to me, and they're just getting to know me and things like that. And they asked if I had any interest in joining the military and I said, yeah, I'm going to join the army. . And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm gonna join the Army because I, I wanted to be an American hero.I just wanted to be a part of that legacy. 

Lauren Cardillo:
So American hero to you meant what then? Like what was your definition?  

Andre Taylor:
A service to my country in a potentially dangerous situation that if you survive. By the, by the grace of the powers that be, you know, whoever it is that you believe in. I believe in God, um, that if you survive, the things that you will learn from that are, aren't something you can discover in a book. So, um, and the ability to impart that wisdom onto others is a gift onto itself. And so that's what I understood a hero to be. 

Abigail Compton:
So, my husband, joined in the Marine Corps, um. Just after high school. His first deployment in 2009. It was the end of December, 2009. He was shot in the head during deployment. 

When he came home, they check out the guys mentally and physically, but through that they realized that his TBI was significant.  
Given. So, um, so he, he didn't get his, you know, brain to heal the way it probably could have given a little more time and rest. Um, but, you know, I honestly believe that we're not given more than we can handle.  

And those challenges has made me a better person, a better caregiver to my, my husband, to my children. It's made me just a better human, it's given me more grit. Like would've never seen myself 20, 30 years ago with the determination and grit that I have now. 

Lloyd 'Milo' Miles:
You know, as I look back over, uh, my military career and now the career here at, uh, UMGC. It would be if I had to, you know, choose one word, it would be humility. Uh, I have attended a lot of leadership schools, you know, in the military at every rank they send you to another school.  

You know, usually in your leadership schools, they talk about things like being decisive and having a vision and being able to communicate and so on and so on. Um, but never humility. And I think, you know, to, to be a true servant leader, you have to have some of that humility because humility is what allows you to see the humanity in other people. You know, without it, you, you will look past people you won't even know and see that they are there. You won't even empathize with the challenges that they may have because it's just not part of how you see the world.  

Nathan James: 
Our last group of phenomenal guests show us just how determined our students can be.  

Lauren Cardillo: 
They’ve overcome personal battles and some of society’s roadblocks to succeed again.  

Samantha Howard:
Before I finished my degree, I always felt like I was five years behind everybody else because I didn't have the degree, regardless of the fact that I had a career and I had, you know, children and I was married and I had the white picket fence and all these things, right? I still felt five years behind. 

Now that I've been able to complete that, get it off me, and I learned so much in the process. I feel like I'm 10 years ahead now. You know, like I've had these opportunities to have these experiences with my adult mind, and it's been so gratifying. It's not worth giving up, you know, like it's, it's more value in persisting than there is in giving up, because giving up is an action too. 

And not just that, you know, when you finish it, you enter into a new stage. That's the beauty of life. You never stop. So why not continue? You know, pursue your dreams, have new dreams. You change, you grow. You know, you're always gonna have a new challenge. Just if it's something that is truly in your heart that you wanna do it, do it. 

Mike Hill:
So, I always tell people running a marathon was, for me, it unlocked the key to life, right? And that is with enough planning. You can do anything and, you know, the marathon, I did it at 40 years old, just to see if I could do it. 

I had set myself a goal. You're turning 40. Let's get in shape. Let's run the Marine Corps marathon. And, you know, as I was going through the journey, I think I put on like 800 miles in the, in the year from January until the marathon. And I was like, finally chiseled. I was like mentally prepared.  

And then I got out on the race and about halfway through the race, one of my knees gave out. So, I was in excruciating pain and I ran over to the side of the course. And I picked up like a road marker, right? Like a piece of, you know, plastic tape, cinched my knee down, kept going another couple of miles. The other knee went out, did the same thing. I remember at mile 25, I was, it was starting to sink in like, Hey, you're really, you're going to do this. 

Crevita Moody: 
I dived down to a beautiful World War II shipwreck off the coast of Pataya, Thailand. It was, it was pretty, pretty phenomenal. 

Nathan James: 
Um, how deep down was that?

Crevita Moody: 
It was a hundred feet. So. Oh yeah, it's, it's about like an hour or so off the coast of, uh, Thailand, Southern Thailand. And it was just, it was amazing. Um, people don't know, but when you, when you go that deep in the water, everything is black and white. There is no color.  

Nathan James: 
This is what it means to overcome fear, you know, and this is what it means to press your comfort zone and to come, I mean, just what you pull from that, what you learn from that.  

Kevin Finkelstein:
When you build a house, you start with the foundation, right? You put a big concrete thing in the ground so that everything can be built on top of that concrete thing. If you rush through the concrete thing, the house is going to fall apart. There is nothing different when it comes to undergraduate education. If you do not take the time and the resources and the materials that are being given to you by the instructors in these courses and work through it, you're not going to succeed. You're just, you're just not.  

This knowledge that is being shared with you, that's been curated for you by these instructors, has been deemed essential for you to be able to function in society. Taking your time, really getting into the work that's being asked of you is the best way that you're going to succeed here. 

Danielle Rowell:
And so, I knew this reverend for my church. He said, “hey, you know, I have a, I think I have a job for you. I know a buddy. You know, you have to go and interview with them and you know, and just do your best to see what he says.” And so, when I went to go interview, it was for a risk analyst position, and he was like, “look, I'm basically just doing this for my friend.” 

“If you could get your security plus certification in 30 days and come back to me, I'll give you a job.” I took it as a challenge because that means you doubted me. 

You had no faith in my abilities, you know, I told you this what I wanted to do. I went and got my master's and so I came back in 30 days with my certification and he said, “wow, I guess I have to give you the job.” 

It was a lot of long, you know, long days, long nights, weekends. I, I had to study hard because my, my colleagues were already, you know, leaps and bounds ahead of me, and so I really had to, I had to catch up, right, and I had to prove myself that I was, that I was able to do the job, that I could stand on my own.  

Cory Underwood:
I was a freshman. I didn't, I didn't know y'all remembered that, but when I was failing, I was failing five classes. And, and what makes it even worse is my dad was the principal at the time. But I had supportive parents. I had parents that came from two different backgrounds, but both were in education. And that's part of the reason why I got into, you know, this role of being an assistant principal because I wanted to support students in a, in a bigger way, um, you know, in a, in a larger position. But I just let them know that I'm here 100%, whatever they need, um, whether they're repeating a grade and they want to get back in their right grade, I just let them know, look. 

As long as you put forth your effort and you do your part, I got your back and I'll help you get there. So I just, I just help them, you know, understand that I care, that I want them to achieve their dreams, whatever it is, and I'll help 'em get to that point. 

Amanda Clark: 
I had a doctor that told me if you learn more about what you're experiencing and what you're afraid of, then it'll help you kind of overcome it. And you know, I sitting there thinking, I don't wanna know more about what scares me. I wanna know less about it because I wanna be less scared.  

But in learning more about what scared me, being introverted, not liking public speaking, uh, not liking to fly, I was afraid of storms. So I had a really difficult time controlling myself, so I didn't scare my children if there was a storm outside. That doctor knew what she was talking about because the more I researched storms and flying and, uh, the more I started stepping outside of the comfort zone for speaking in front of others, sharing my story, really owning my whole story. Is what motivates me to push myself to do things like this and share, because I want to own every piece of my story. 

Maurice Hicks:
My childhood, I would say it like this, while other children would go in their backyard and play with their swing sets, I would go outside and see people shooting up heroin. 

It started out when I was about 10 years old and, uh, my, uh, mother married this gentleman who pretty much didn't care for me, and I had a little brother that was his pride and joy. So he started saying things to me like, you know, you're dumb. You're never amount to anything.So I eventually, I got frustrated with that and that's when I, I ran away from home and by night fall, I made my way to my grandfather's house. 

I remember my grandfather looking at me saying, what in the world are you doing here at night? You know? And I, and I stayed there and I stand there for a few minutes and I'm like a deer in the headlight. And I finally just started breaking down crying and said, you know, I'm stupid. I never amount to anything. 

And he said, well good, where's this coming from? So when I explained to him, you know, he, he, he sat me down and said, you have a good heart and a good mind, and you're gonna make a tremendous difference in this world. Told my mother I'm gonna stay there. 

Lauren Cardillo: 
Was this the grandfather who kept your picture in his pocket? 

Maurice Hicks:
Yes, yes. Yes he did. Yeah. He, he was, he was very, he was very proud of me.  

Lauren Cardillo:
And that's just like, that image just really spoke to me about like the impact that you had on each other.  

Maurice Hicks: Yes. And even when he passed away, sitting in his chair, he still had my picture in his pocket, his in his shirt pocket. 

Nathan James: 
Well, that’s it for this special edition of Unstoppable Stories. 

Lauren Cardillo: And thanks to each graduate for inspiring us with their tales of triumph. 

Nathan James: 
Next year we’ll be back on this brand-new set for Season 2. 

Lauren Cardillo:
Once again featuring our students and their Unstoppable Stories.  

Nathan James: 
So, until then, remember to watch and listen on your favorite podcast platform. 

Both: And have a Happy New Year!