Attending college was not on Leondra Tyler’s ’24 mind when persistent bullying and harassment forced her to drop out of high school in the tenth grade. The same was true for Omnia Shedid L’24, who grew up chasing chickens and running through her grandparents’ corn fields on a small, rural village in Banha, Egypt. Yet when Syracuse University holds its 2024 Commencement exercises Sunday morning, both Tyler and Shedid will be honored and celebrated for their perseverance and resilience in the face of immense adversity. A non-traditional student, Tyler will graduate cum laude with dual degrees in neuroscience and psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Professional Studies through the Part-Time Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and plans on becoming a doctor. Shedid, the president of the College of Law’s Class of 2024, landed her “dream job” as an honors attorney with the government after graduation. Tyler and Shedid discuss their surreal paths to Commencement, how their time on campus reinforced their drive to make a difference once they graduate and how they plan on utilizing their degrees to help out those less fortunate.
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