Soldier's path to a Methodist University degree started in 1994
When Master Sgt. Christopher Ansley’s daughter, Keeley, placed a hood over his head at Methodist University’s graduation on Saturday, it marked the end of a 28-year journey that started with encouragement from his father.
The hooding ceremony is a long-standing tradition for the university, according to a statement released by the school. Each of the nearly 300 graduates selected a parent, spouse, child, professor or friend, to help mark the academic achievement during the school’s commencement at Segra Stadium in downtown Fayetteville.
Ansley, who plans to retire from the Army this year, first stepped foot on the Methodist campus in 1994, according to a separate statement from the school. At the time, his father, who was in the Marine Corps, was attending night school at what was then Methodist College and would earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting the following year.
The path Ansley took to earn his sociology degree had more than a few detours. His father died in 1998, but Ansley kept taking classes at Methodist before joining the Army National Guard two years later.
Ansley switched to active duty status after the Sept. 11 attacks and deployed to Iraq twice. In 2012, he returned to Fort Bragg and started picking up a few online classes at Methodist. He was on track to finish in 2014, but he was transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana and a few years later moved to Scranton, Pa., to become an ROTC instructor.
Last year, Ansley decided he wanted to earn his degree before he retired. He contacted the staff at Methodist’s Fort Bragg campus to talk about how he could do that.
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Billy Buckner, director of the university’s Military Programs and Workforce Training, said many of the actions Ansley took were already available.
“We just needed to determine which path would best suit him,” Buckner said.
Ansley said the degree would not be possible without his wife and five children.
“My kids are my inspiration,” he said. “I keep telling them to never give up and to strive to be the best you can be.”
Ansley said he went into the Army instead of the Marines because he didn’t want people to say he was following in his father’s footsteps. Now, he’s proud that he followed his father to Methodist.
“I know he really wanted to see me graduate before he passed away, but it means a lot to me that I’m earning a degree from the same university as him,” he said. “It’s something I get to carry with me the rest of my life.”
During the commencement ceremony, Methodist University President Stanley T. Wearden praised the graduates for dealing with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve been working in higher education for 40 years, and I’ve never seen challenges like those we have faced together over the past two years,” Wearden said. “You have felt the pressure – I’ve seen that. But what I hope you now realize about yourselves is that you have deep reservoirs of strength, character, and compassion.”
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Larry Keen, president of Fayetteville Technical Community College, spoke during the commencement. Keen has led an effort to provide college transfer programs at FTCC and played a pivotal role in the relationship between the two schools.
Keen encouraged the graduates to be “in the arena” instead of standing back and condemning other people.
“Be the one who invests all you have to be the best you can be,” he said.
Local news editor Steve DeVane can be reached at sdevane@fayobserver.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Soldier's path to a Methodist University degree started in 1994
