{"id":621,"date":"2017-09-25T09:04:02","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T16:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=621"},"modified":"2024-04-02T15:03:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T22:03:09","slug":"secota-douglas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/secota-douglas\/","title":{"rendered":"Big dreams have humble beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"744\" height=\"419\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TMbhCjWYpig?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption video-caption-full\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Growing up in a small village in Guyana, Secota Douglas always had dreams that were bigger than her surroundings, including earning a degree from a prestigious university such as Oregon State.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>OSU Ecampus alumna overcomes adversity to earn degree<\/h2>\n<p><em>By <a title=\"All stories by Heather Doherty\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/author\/turnehea\/\">Heather Doherty<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<a title=\"Contact Heather Doherty\" href=\"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/staff\/bio\/turnehea.htm\"><em class=\"icon-user osu-gray\"><br \/>\n<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When the world is telling you to stop, Secota Douglas says go. All the way to the top.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in a small village in Guyana \u2013 which she described as \u201ca third-world country\u201d when she was growing up \u2013 Secota always had dreams that were bigger than her surroundings, including earning a degree from a prestigious university such as Oregon State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am the direct descendent of people who, after facing so much adversity, decided, \u2018You know what, we can still push forward,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cFor me, no matter how difficult a situation is or may look, hope is something that keeps driving me forward \u2013 especially when I look at my family. I always want to do better for my mom, so it means a lot to me to graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_627\" class=\"wp-caption wp-caption-265 alignright\" style=\"width: 265px\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-627 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Secota-2.jpg?resize=265%2C265&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Secota hugs Benny the Beaver at Oregon State's campus before walking in the 2017 commencement ceremony.\" width=\"265\" height=\"265\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Secota traveled to Oregon State&#8217;s Corvallis campus to walk in the commencement ceremony \u2014 and meet Benny Beaver.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Secota, who earned a <a href=\"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/online-degrees\/undergraduate\/eep\/\">B.S. in Environmental Economics and Policy<\/a> online through Oregon State Ecampus, is one of the first in her family to graduate from college.<\/p>\n<p>She says her degree helped her see backdoor dealings of how policies are made, why they are made, and how much work goes into getting legislation passed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSurprisingly, that amount of work didn\u2019t deter me, it just drives me to be able to one day help pass one of those legislations that can help me do good for the environment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Her graduation day on Oregon State&#8217;s Corvallis campus was especially notable for Secota, who traveled to OSU for the first time to join her classmates celebrate their achievements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGraduating means just the world to me. And I know it means the world to my mom, and to my family,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that just makes me feel that much more accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Wan to learn more about Oregon State&#8217;s online bachelor&#8217;s program in environmental economics and policy?<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"rfi-button\" class=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/contact\/form\/?major=237\">Request information<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\"><\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute read<\/span><\/span>Growing up in a small village in Guyana \u2013 which Secota described as \u201ca third-world country\u201d when she was growing up \u2013 Secota Douglas always had dreams that were bigger than her surroundings, including earning a degree from a prestigious university such as Oregon State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[673],"tags":[638,288],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-conservation-and-natural-sciences","tag-environmental-economics-and-policy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Secota.jpg?fit=638%2C410&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-a1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1409,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/online-sociology-degree-sarah-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":621,"position":0},"title":"Online sociology degree leads alum from rural town to Fulbright scholarship and more","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"May 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Brown began as an OSU Ecampus student many years ago, when instruction was often delivered by VHS videos. 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