By Kayla Robins From The Sumter ITEM

She stood Wednesday as a testimony of perseverance, tassel to her left, 21 years in the making.

It was not easy to get to the moment on May 8 at Patriot Hall when the name “Robin Sherman” was called during USC Sumter’s graduation ceremony. Not much about Sherman is typical. She walked across the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree from sitting on the stage instead of in the audience with the rest of the 99 graduates so she could use her walker.

It took her as many years to graduate as many, if not most, of her fellow Class of 2019 have been alive. She is 52, has cerebral palsy and, while her words come out slowly, they deliver a quick sense of humor.

“You can use my age because as I say, not using it won’t make me younger,” she said Wednesday after the ceremony and as students, families and faculty dispersed from a free lunch in the USC Sumter Nettles Building gym put on by the college’s alumni association.

CP is a group of disorders that affect a person’s movements, balance and posture and is the most common motor disability in childhood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms vary from person to person, but CP always comes with some form of abnormal or damaged brain development that can range from walking a little awkwardly to needing equipment to walk or not being able to walk at all.

Sherman has let neither her CP or what others thought she should be limited to because of it hold her back.

“There were so many people out there thinking we have to stay home and collect their checks, but I’m not going to do that,” she said, with red glasses that match her USC Sumter robes.

USC Sumter launched its Opportunity Scholars Program, federally funded and known through the U.S. Department of Education as the TRIO Program, in 1997. When its first two students arrived onto campus the next spring, Sherman was one of them. TRIO provides services for students with disadvantaged backgrounds such as low-income individuals, first-generation college students and students with disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Education website.

Sherman took two classes a semester, receiving her associate degree in 2003. Then she had to take a break to address health issues. She has a lot of people tell her, as they have throughout her life, that she wouldn’t make it or wouldn’t finish. She also had professors who made her promise to come back.

A major support system sat around her Wednesday.

Lisa Rosdail is the director of OSP and Upward Bound, two TRIO programs at USC Sumter. She hasn’t even been at the college as long as Sherman.

“There’s a mass of people who know her story,” she said. “Even through the break, she would always pop in here like her usual self.”

Rosdail’s daughter is 16. She used to pick her up from school every day before dropping Sherman off at home.

Sherman has overcome obstacles in and out of school, from paying for classes to learning how to live alone in an apartment provided by the Sumter County Disabilities and Special Needs Board to writing a 35-page, 25-source paper for her final class of her bachelor’s degree.

Monique McCause tutored her in English to help her with the paper.

In her time off from school, Sherman also became an ordained minister.

“I always think I can’t do it,” Sherman said, “But God says I can.”

Bell Leslie, Sherman’s spiritual sister, traveled from Tennessee to see her friend graduate.

“I’ve known her since the late ’90s,” she said, “and to see where she was and to see her graduate today.”

Sherman said she used to receive in-home services to help her with daily life.

“I was just sitting at home, and I let them give me a bath, comb my hair, but I just felt empty inside,” she said. “People would squash my dreams of achieving things not because they don’t believe in me, but because they don’t believe in themselves.”

She overcame any transportation issues in getting to school by walking from her Blanding Street apartment. Plus, walking helps her headaches go away. Her hands would be red from the cold in winter, McCause said, but she made sure to get her exercise in.

Sherman said her next goal is to get a job and to, as a long-term goal, get off government dependence. A bachelor’s won’t be enough, and she’s overcome everything placed in front of her so far.

Rosdail has never known USC Sumter without Sherman.

“It’s going to be weird. She’s just always been there,” she said. “But it’s good. It’s good. It’s a natural progression.”

Sherman, smile wide, said she felt “very proud” to walk across the stage Wednesday.

She is a testament to being scared and doing it anyway, to using people’s doubts as challenges to overcome. Not much about Sherman is typical. After all, how many people would stick with college for 21 years?

For more on this story go to; https://www.theitem.com/stories/52-year-old-with-cerebral-palsy-gets-bachelors-degree-from-usc-sumter-after-21-years,327106