'Ready to change my life': Austin Community College graduates reflect on achievement

Julian Cotto sat in his cap and gown, smiling widely, along with the Austin Community College chancellor and other presenters on the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park stage. His family cheered for him from the center's front row to celebrate his graduation.

Cotto, a father of two, on Thursday received his associate degree of applied science in computer programming as well as the Chancellor’s Student Achievement Award.

Cotto gave a speech to his fellow graduates about how much he had gained from his education at ACC. At the end, he told his peers to follow their passions, set achievable goals and prioritize self-reflection.

“Never lose sight of yourself in the pursuit of dreams,” Cotto told the graduates.

Cotto told the American-Statesman that it took him 10 years to get his mindset “where it needed to be” to successfully pursue a degree after several attempts. Out of high school, he had attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but ultimately received an honorable discharge. He then tried again at a different institution, but he found working more fulfilling.

“The constant sort of trend was I would get into a job, I would do very well in the job, and I would get promoted very quickly through the ranks at the job." And it would get to a point where he'd ask himself, "Well, do you need this degree to keep going?’”

He said he moved to Austin for the “booming economy” and opportunities. He started working for Spectrum, an internet and cable provider, and decided to pursue a degree in computer science because he loved the company but wanted to move up the corporate ladder. He became a network engineer after a year of working at the call center, and Cotto realized he wanted to pursue a higher position. But he stayed in that post for four years.

“I didn't like the work, but the work was easy. I didn't really make a change until I met my then-girlfriend, we got married, and we conceived our first child, and that's when I knew like, ‘OK, it's time to take a step up,'” he said. “Get a degree, hopefully before — and it is going to be before — he turns 5.”

The impacts of his decision to return to school were almost immediate. After his first semester in spring 2020, he received a promotion at work.

“I had a little bit of knowledge by three-quarters of the semester through, and I wrote a script that basically just did my job for me,” Cotto said. “My manager found out fairly quickly because I was turning over work faster than anybody else … and they said, ‘How would you like a job on the development team?’”

Since then, he has been promoted twice more. With his associate degree in hand, he will become a network developer. He said every programming class has “expanded his mind,” and that the caliber of instruction at ACC was excellent.

His wife is also pursuing a degree. Cotto said he would advise people to consider going back to school and set goals for themselves.

“I want to set a good example for my children too, that you can do anything that you set your mind to,” he said. “There's always room for improvement, no matter what you're doing, and you should strive for that, you should strive for improvement every time.”

In 2025, he hopes to receive a bachelor's degree in software engineering.

'You can do it'

On Friday morning, Iyana Mitchell wore a white lab coat, green slacks and white heels. She sat with her peers in a packed auditorium, listened to ACC leaders give speeches and prepared to walk across the stage.

She was graduating at ACC’s fall commencement. On Friday, she received her pin at ACC’s nursing pinning ceremony, a tradition tied to Florence Nightingale, who presented a medal of excellence to her graduates.

Last week, more than 3,700 ACC graduates received their degrees. Mitchell received her associate degree in professional nursing.

When Mitchell received her gown, the moment was “surreal.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have to hang it up so I can remind myself like, you can do it!’” she said. “It was just an extra boost to tell me to keep on.”

Mitchell, who attended classes at ACC’s Round Rock campus, said her degree was funded by Capital Idea, a Central Texas nonprofit that helps pay for tuition and textbooks for students in high-demand fields such as nursing. There's a shortage of nurses in Texas and nationwide.

Mitchell said she always wanted to be in the medical field. She started pursuing higher education in 2017 but wanted to reapply to nursing school. She worked hard to retake classes she had failed, and she got into the program on her first try.

After failing a class, she told her adviser she wanted to stop. But her mom encouraged her to keep trying.

“It took a lot of discipline. But I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm really ready to change my life,’” she said. “’I'm really ready to actually move toward something — a bigger goal for myself.’”

During spring break earlier this year, Michell’s brother died in a car accident. Mitchell didn’t know if she could still continue her education while dealing with immense grief. But she did.

“I'm just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, how am I going to get through the semester? Like, am I able to pull myself together and actually focus on what I need to focus on? But surprisingly, I did,” she said.

Mitchell said she wants to be a nurse to make a difference — particularly in those moments of intense vulnerability.

Now with her degree, she plans to move to Baltimore to take an emergency department nursing job.

She said the ACC community has been supportive to her — from professors to tutors and peers. She said her advice to those seeking to pursue their dreams is to not be afraid to fail and to give themselves grace.

“We are our biggest enemies,” she said. “We are always telling ourselves we can't do something, or we make an excuse for ourselves to keep ourselves in a slow place, when we can change that mindset and actually do better things for ourselves.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Community College graduates celebrate perseverance, hard work