Angela Sawyer will go to the University of Mary Washington to study computer programming and Web design. PETER CIHELKA/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

BY KAREN BOLIPATA

Date published: 5/8/2008

BY KAREN BOLIPATA

The second youngest of eight children, Angela Sawyer graduated from Courtland High School in Spotsylvania County not knowing much about college.

All she knew was that it was too expensive, and her brothers and sisters never went.

She got a job in Northern Virginia doing clerical work for the federal government. But after a few years, the single mother didn't want to settle for that life.

After visiting Germanna Community College's Locust Grove campus with a friend, she decided to try out the college thing part time.

A few courses eventually turned into a full-blown track in the information technology program.

And today, five years after her first class, Sawyer, 31, will walk across the stage and become the first in her family to graduate from college.

"I have peace of mind because I'm not in the job where I'm like, 'I don't want to come,'" she said recently at the college's admissions office, where she now works. "I did it when I thought it was impossible."

At the ceremony today, she'll probably think of the long hours she put in to get that diploma. After a full day of classes and work, she went home to take care of her now 6-year-old son Michael. She often didn't get around to her homework until 10 at night.

Her schedule was "very busy," she said with a laugh.

And college itself, including how to pay for it, was foreign territory.

"I didn't know anything about financial aid. Nothing," Sawyer said.

She learned about her options when she did a work-study program during the school year. In the summers, she worked in the counseling and financial aid offices to get by.

But Sawyer, who grew up in a house where college was never talked about, needed a cheerleader. She found that in English instructor Nancy Noel.

"There was no one telling me, 'Go ahead, Angela. You can do it,'" Sawyer said. "She pushed me."

Noel, upon hearing that Sawyer attributes her achievement to her, seemed surprised.

She remembers "Angie," as she affectionately calls her, as a driven and positive student. But Noel doesn't consider herself any different from other teachers.

"I'm honored that she attributes so much to me," she said. "I'm not the one who did it. She is."

Sawyer also is a lot like many Germanna students, Noel said.

"They're such inspirations to me because when I think about the maturity level that I had in terms of a sense of responsibility when I was her age. I know I couldn't have done that," she said.

Last year, when her son was diagnosed with neurofibratosis--he had a tumor on his spine, Sawyer thought she would have to quit school to care for him.

"It was kind of hard," she said. "I wanted to pursue my degree and my goal."

Her son is better now, she said, and her mother helped watch him while she was in school.

Sawyer said she plans to continue working as the Veterans Affairs representative for Germanna. Someday, she said, maybe she'll start her own software company.

Her family is proud of her, she said, and she learned that college isn't so impossible after all.

"I knew my parents could never afford it, and that's why I never asked," Sawyer said. "This was something I wanted to do on my own."