From not planning to attend college to a bachelor’s degree in social work, this graduate reached the finish line by taking one step at a time.

For Charise Taylor, the decision to attend college was literally a mountaintop moment, and it wasn’t entirely a choice of her own making.

Years ago, she was invited by her best friend to be part of a team in a 500-mile fundraising bike ride from Asheville, North Carolina, to Nashville. Charise was 30 years old and, by her own account, was professionally adrift, bouncing from job to job with stints as a barista and a receptionist included along the way.

“I just could not figure out what I wanted to do, but I knew that I would never go to college,” she said. “I just didn’t ever want to go.”

Famous last words.

She was riding her bike through the Great Smoky Mountains and minding her own business on a May afternoon. She covered the mileage in seven days, so Charise was exhausted from the distance, the demands and the constant uphill climbs associated with the event.

“It was something I needed at that point in my life,” she said. “I needed a change, a challenge … an awakening.”

In that moment she said she felt a nudge from God. She was by herself, away from the other cyclists, going at her own pace. It was quiet with no distractions. She didn’t hear an audible voice, but she was dead-solid certain about what she experienced.

“I think the Lord put me there on purpose because that was the only way I was going to listen,” she remembered, “and I felt prompted by him that it was time to go to school. I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to change my heart because that’s not what I want to do.’”

So, here she is some eight years later, preparing to receive her bachelor’s degree in social work during this week’s winter commencement at Texas Tech University. The journey to a diploma hasn’t always been easy, but this exercise in persistence has been incredibly rewarding.

Charise responded to this aspirational reorientation in 2017 by signing up for a psychology class at South Plains College. From that meager beginning as someone intimidated by the thought of attending college, she decided to approach it on a semester-by-semester basis, taking classes as she could and as they fit into her life.

Along the way, she shifted her academic focus to social work because she thought that path would give her broader options in the professional world.

“It has been a walk in obedience ever since,” she said. “God did not give me the full picture. I just kept listening and obeying. Every semester, it’s just like, ‘Do one more class, just do one more,’ and he has carried me through all along.”

Charise completed her basic curriculum requirements at South Plains College before transferring into the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work in the College of Arts & Sciences. She said transferring credits to Texas Tech was a smooth process.

Then, after six years as a part-time student, Charise got married and began carrying a full-time course load, wrapping everything up over the past two years.

“It was super easy transferring to Texas Tech,” she said. “The communication between the two schools is great. I had heard the social work program at Texas Tech was really good, so that’s how I came here.”

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Charise moved to West Texas about 15 years ago as part of a church missions program. After completing her time overseas, she returned to Lubbock because it was where she had both family and community.

While she was unsure of what she wanted to do as far as a career, she was certain about what was important to her.

Her desire was to help others, and she knew social workers had the privilege of connecting people with resources and the responsibility of helping them navigate challenges and obstacles to their needs.

“One of her greatest attributes is her authenticity,” said Cara Speer, director of the Bachelor of Social Work field education program and associate professor of practice of social work. “She is comfortable being herself, and people are drawn to her because of that. She has compassion for those with multiple needs and complex traumas.”

Charise has experienced these complicated needs firsthand during her required final-semester internship. She has spent time working at Open Door, a nonprofit organization in Lubbock that provides resources to sex trafficking survivors.

“That has just opened my eyes to the poverty that is here in Lubbock and just a lot of hurting people,” she said. “Some of them really are victims and have had bad situations happen to them. I’ve loved being able to support them, help them find jobs, get birth certificates and get counseling and other types of medical care.”

A faculty member suggested Open Door to Charise, believing her passions would perfectly align with the entity’s mission and purpose.

“It has been a massive learning curve because it is different working with that population,” she said, “and I had been very blessed growing up to not have experienced much trauma at all.

“Then hearing about trauma all day, every day and learning how to carry that is, emotionally, very, very difficult. It took a while to get used to it because you can’t normalize trauma like that, so it took me a while to grow another layer of skin and not take it home with me.”

That said, Charise also knows serving at Open Door was exactly where she needed to be and precisely what she needed to be equipped and prepared for a career in social work. 

These are the experiences that will make her effective in the future.

“Every Friday this semester, Charise volunteered in the Open Door Community Center, where unhoused people spend their days to get off the streets,” Speer said. “At first Charise couldn’t find a way to start conversations with people who were strangers.”

But she found a way to unlock the conversation, bringing UNO cards each week. Soon, a small crowd gathered for games, and some began opening up to Charise about their life challenges. Friendships were born.

Of course, Charise also brought her own skills and gifts to Open Door, and those talents have not gone unnoticed.

“Charise is a very compassionate person,” said Jaime Wheeler, survivor housing director at Open Door. “She is willing to learn wherever she can and lead with empathy. She is a hard worker, showing up on time and ready to help with whatever the tasks may be for the day. Her attitude has been positive and encouraging, which is a great asset to have on the team.”

Wheeler said Charise has learned from the experiences of people at Open Door, offering support and working alongside sex trafficking survivors to help them move through life trauma by leading support groups, providing case management and connecting them to community resources.

As she looks back now, Charise can’t believe how quickly the time has passed – and how far she has come.

It is a paradox of how eight years can seem like such a long time and yet move so stealthily and quickly.

“Time is going to pass anyway,” she said. “What am I going to do with it? I decided I was going to try to make the most of it, and here we are. I get emotional about commencement because there was a time it just seemed like an impossible mountain, but you just keep going.”

It’s funny how life works out, how someone determined not to attend college winds up spending most of a decade doing exactly that.

Then again, maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be all along.

“If I had started college when I was 18, I would have failed out,” Charise said with a slight laugh. “I wouldn’t have gone to school because at that point I cared about my social life so much more. I needed to mature.”

Now, she has the best of all worlds. Texas Tech’s social work program was everything she hoped for and more as a student. 

“I love the campus,” she said. “It’s beautiful, and I love walking around campus, especially in the fall. And there is so much pride here. People are very proud to be part of Texas Tech, whether that’s professors, staff or students.”

Charise has a more permanent reminder of her own Texas Tech journey as well. She had a mountain tattooed on her arm to help make sure she doesn’t forget that special moment in the Great Smoky Mountains years ago.

As for what’s next, she is still working through the possibilities, including a master’s degree. She plans to take her licensing exam in January and then survey options as a licensed social worker.

“I don’t have a job lined up right now,” she said. “That’s another thing where I am going to trust God. I would like to get my master’s, but I feel like I want a break from school for now. I don’t need to rush things, but I know a master’s would be very valuable in the social work world.”

That’s something of an about-face for someone who at one time didn’t see college as an option, but Charise the soon-to-be Texas Tech graduate has learned a lot on the road to becoming a Red Raider.

And perhaps the longest-lasting lesson is this:

“Texas Tech has been a great experience, and it helped me realize I had absolutely nothing to be afraid of as far as going to college,” she said.