SAN ANTONIO – Alissa and Elizabeth Meyers have been through it all together. The duo just earned their Master’s degrees in social work from Our Lady of the Lake University.
Their journey, however, goes back years.
“I’ve enjoyed the experience,” Elizabeth Meyers said.
“It’s been an awesome experience,” her mother, Alissa said.
They have been there for each other through the challenges.
Alissa’s husband (Elizabeth’s stepfather) passed away when Elizabeth was seven years old. Then, Alissa’s father (Elizabeth’s grandfather) passed away suddenly. They also lost their home to Hurricane Harvey, which forced them to make the decision to move inland.
“I always told myself, you have to keep going. You have to keep fighting. You have to remember who’s watching you and how proud they are,” Elizabeth said.
After moving to Killeen, the duo decided to get their associate degrees together at Central Texas College. They graduated with three associate degrees before heading to Mary-Hardin Baylor for their bachelor’s.
“Just continuing on and staying busy has been one way that we, I guess, cope,” Alissa said.
Following their time at Mary-Hardin Baylor, the two decided it was time to get their Master’s degrees in social work, but now the question was where to get it from. After visiting OLLU, they knew this is where they needed to be.
“Once we realized this was going to be a smaller class size, we’re like, this is similar to our undergrad and this is what we want,” Alissa said.
Even though they went through schooling together, they both have different areas of social work they want to focus on. Alissa wants to be more involved in the education of homeless students. Elizabeth wants to go down another path.
“My heart is on smart de-carceration and the routes down to their kids,” Elizabeth said.
The duo walked the stage together to get their master’s in social work on Thursday, May 11.
“I never thought in a million years I’d be 50 years old and getting a master’s degree,” Alissa said.
The two will take a much-needed break after doing schooling for five straight years. In the future, they plan to go for a PhD in social work.