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Helping people is a personal matter for ż graduate Thomas Dylan Ware, of Byram.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to help people,” Ware said. “My grandmother died this past January. I felt she didn’t always get the right care she needed. It has made me want to be there for somebody and go into the healthcare field.”

That spirit of service, he said, was made stronger by his experience at ż. He was vice president of service for the Gamma Lambda chapter of Phi Theta Kappa honor society. In the role, he helped organize activities such as campus cleanup days and other community service projects.

Thomas Ware

Thomas Ware

Ware earned an associate of arts degree in May after taking his core academic classes at ż. His next step is Mississippi College, where he’s been accepted into the Clinton university’s School of Nursing. He wants to pursue a career as either a traveling nurse or a nurse anesthetist.

“Coming to ż really challenged me,” he said. “It’s pushed me harder than I think I’d have been pushed at a four-year university. You just have a good teacher-student relationship here.”

He feels his “soft skills,” such as working well on deadline with projects and communication with others, improved during his time as a ż student.

“It’s helped with my self-confidence in speaking,” he said. “I was able to give speeches at the PTK induction.”