Completing her education gave re-entry student Kelly Gilson tangible rewards, like a pay raise and new job prospects. But what Gilson treasures most is how her education transformed her life from the inside, giving her a new sense of confidence and reinforcing tight bonds with her family. The first in her family to attend college, Gilson is now inspiring her adult children to recommit to their own education.
A summa cum laude graduate, Gilson won Fresno State’s Craig School of Business Re-Entry Award, which recognizes an outstanding student who started college late or returned after an extensive break. Craig School graduates were celebrated in a commencement ceremony on May 17 at the Save Mart Center.
When Gilson was first out of high school, she didn’t plan to pursue college and a career. “I just couldn’t wait to be married and be a mom,” Gilson said. “My marriage was very traditional. I stayed home and took care of the house and the kids, and my husband went to work and earned the paycheck.”
Gilson’s domestic happiness came to an unfortunate, premature end when her husband died in 2001. Gilson became the sole support of her family. “My husband’s weekly paycheck was more than my monthly paycheck at the time. So we struggled financially for a lot of years,” Gilson said.
Life changed for Gilson at age 48 at the prompting of a co-worker. “She said, ‘Just take one class. What can it hurt? Give it a try.’ She got me to sign up at West Hills College while I was at work. I was scared to death. I thought I was too old,” Gilson said.
Not wanting to commit herself, Gilson signed up for just two classes she thought she could handle, English and typing. To her astonishment, she got A’s in both and continued to get A’s every semester after that. Taking one or two classes as an experiment soon turned into a defined plan that led to her enrollment at Fresno State in the Accelerated Bachelor’s in Business Administration (ABBA) program and her graduation in fall 2023.
“While I was in the ABBA program, I finally got the promotion that I had been trying to get for 10 years,” Gilson said. She is now a staff services analyst for the Department of State Hospitals-Coalinga. “When my degree was final, I submitted that to my personnel department, and they put me all the way to the top pay range of my job, which was pretty cool.”
Even better was how education changed how Gilson felt. “Going back to school completely changed me and how I see the world. I have so much more confidence in myself and my ability to do things than I ever did before in my entire life,” Gilson said. “When my husband died, and now I was the only one to keep my kids safe, I thought, ‘I can’t.’ It was really scary then. And now it’s so different. I know I’ve got this. I can protect them. I can provide for them.”
Best of all, Gilson’s college experience brought her family closer together, and she is proud of modeling the value of education for her now adult children. “My whole family came together to support me. And when I started going to school, my daughter-in-law said, ‘I’m going to finish my degree, too.’ And then my youngest went back to school and is now a full-time student at West Hills College. I feel like we can change the trajectory for future generations in my family,” Gilson said.
Gilson said that her experience as a re-entry student shows that a transformative education is possible at any age. “If I can do it, anybody can do it,” she said. “I was not a straight-A student in high school. I didn’t have any money, and financial aid paid for me to go to school. If you want it, and you’re willing to work for it, you can 100% do it.”
