First-generation college student Joseph Thomas recalls his mother’s advice to him early on. He was in Child Protective Services’ care due to extreme poverty, a drug-addicted father and having witnessed his sister’s sexual assault, and his mother explained to him that the only way out of that situation in the future was through education. He followed her guidance and earned a business degree from the University of Texas at Tyler, but his journey didn’t end there.
A turning point happened when Joseph was 19 and attended an Alabama football game with his buddy Tim, whose family attended one game every year. “I fell in love with the campus and the people. There was a video that played right before the game started, and you know, the band was going crazy, and the student section was awesome. I was just living the experience, and just fell in love, and from that point forward, I was an Alabama fan.”
Joseph finished his bachelor’s, commissioned as an officer in the Army and began to build a bright future with his wife Shelby. As a leader in the Army, he always encouraged his soldiers to pursue the education of their dreams. “There’s always opportunity, right? I would tell them, ‘If you’re going to go to school, go to the school you’re a fan of.’ Most of the time, they have some sort of veteran or military program where you can still go to school from a distance and earn a degree from these huge, reputable universities. Not to disrespect the smaller college programs, but when you apply for a job, I’m going to recognize ‘The University of Alabama’ every time.”
After several years, he began to consider separating from the military. “I knew at that point that I’d have to have a competitive advantage to move into the civilian market, and a master’s degree would help me do that. And I decided to follow my own advice and pursue a degree from The University of Alabama.”
He did the research, found UA Online and realized he could earn a top-ranked business master’s degree from Alabama 100% online. Because of his military career as an operations officer, he knew the Master of Science in Operations Management would complement his experience well and set him up for success. So in addition to being a husband and father and full-time captain in the Army, Joseph decided to throw the master’s program into the mix, with the encouragement of his wife, “The best cheerleader I could’ve asked for.”
During his master’s program, Joseph was deployed across seven countries in nine months. He remembers being in the barracks with 60 other soldiers where everyone was sleeping and the only light in the whole room was coming from his laptop as he watched lectures and completed assignments to sync up with deadlines on a time zone hundreds of miles away.
In the summer of 2018, he began interviewing for a supervisory role with Georgia Pacific. He still had a few more classes to finish before completing his master’s program, but during the interview process, they said they’d noticed he was currently earning his master’s from the University and thought he may be better fit for a higher-level role as department manager. He landed the and began working full time as he finished his master’s, already applying what he was learning.
“As I continue to grow as a civilian leader and businessman, I am constantly using the skills and knowledge that I received from the University, and I know I will continue to use those in the future,” he says.
Joseph graduated in May 2019 and was excited to visit the University’s campus again. He met classmates Holly Tew and Dillan Baker for the first time face to face. “They are lifelong friends that I share a lot of my life with, and I’m glad they were part of the same program. We developed inside jokes like you would with a friend you had known for years, and we continue to talk even though we are no longer in class together. We all truly feel like part of the University.”
Published: August 30th, 2020