LAKELAND, Fla. — Sunday was graduation day for students at Florida Polytechnic University, but among the 213 graduates receiving degrees was one student who overcame not one, but two family tragedies to earn his degree.
Mykell Spencer was 13 when his older brother passed away in 2014, but he made a promise to him before he died.
“I said, ‘I will take care of our family and yours and I will be the success of our family,’” Spencer said.
That success showed in his studies at Florida Poly. Then last August, as Spencer was beginning his senior year, he lost his mother to cirrhosis of the liver.
“Three days before classes started,” he said. “So that sucked, and especially going into the hardest year of my life academically. It was an extremely stressful year on top of everything else, so it was definitely one of the most emotionally challenging times of my life as well as mentally challenging.”
But in spite of that heartache, Spencer focused on his goal and his promise. He graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s in computer science.
“It feels like my mountain," he said. "Obviously, I’ve still got obstacles. I’ve still got goals. Still got a long life to live, so I ain’t done yet. But this is probably the biggest stepping stone because now I’ve at least secured a future. Now it’s just working on improving it.”
Spencer plans to ultimately earn his PhD in computer science and work on programming computer games.