Video: One College Graduate Makes History

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-One hundred graduates walked across the stage at the Mississippi University for Women to receive diplomas.

One of those graduates was Robin Christensen.

“Coming to graduation and being at this commencement was very special and very rewarding,” said Christensen, who graduated from MUW on Friday.

It was more than two decades ago when she received her bachelors degree from Brigham Young University .

After being out of school for so long, she decided to enroll at MUW in 2015. Fast-froward to a year and a half later, Christensen finally received the degree she’s been longing for.

“It’s called the Women’s Leadership Masters Degree,” she said. “It’s an inter-disciplinary masters program where we learn about business and politics and women’s leadership skills and tools.”

The Women’s Leadership Program is new to the university.

It’s only been around for two years, and when Christensen walked across the stage to receive her degree, she became the first person ever to graduate from the program.

“It’s an honor,” said Christensen. “I came up on it when I was looking at different masters programs in Mississippi, and it spoke to me, it was something that I thought I could do, that I was interested in learning a lot of different things kind of project based.”

Christensen said she learned and gained some valuable experience while in the program.

“I developed a program in women’s leadership for high school students, so I learned a lot and I’m really excited to put it into use,” the graduate explained.

Now that she’s received her degree from the Women’s Leadership program, Christensen is hoping to be an inspiration to the current students who are in the program.
“I think we’ve got some great students in the program and I’m hoping to help promote it,” said Christensen. “I think the university has a good outline for it so far, an we’re looking to get more students in the masters program.”

Christensen said she’s still weighing her options for what she wants to do next.

She said it’s between searching for further grant writing opportunities that will unite businesses with today’s youth, or pursuing a doctorate degree.