Bryan Tebo '11: Setting the Right Example for His Children
By Mike Lesczinski, Excelsior Life News Staff--
In summer 2011, Bryan Tebo, a graduate of Excelsior College’s School of Business and Technology, walked across the stage to accept his college diploma in front of nearly a dozen family members and friends, including his wife, Stacy, five children and 75-year old father.
It’s a memory that was 26 years in the making and one, Bryan says, wouldn’t have been possible without the support and guidance of his wife and family – and perhaps a bit of calculus tutoring from his twenty-three year old daughter, Tabitha.
For Bryan, a retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 who currently works as a program manager for SCIC, a Department of Defense contractor, the long journey to a degree, which included stops at ten different institutions, hasn’t been one of choice, but circumstance; common when a student must schedule classes around war and relocations and juggle coursework with both duty to country and raising a large family.
Yet, despite deployments to the Balkans, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Panama, doctor’s appointments, late night homework sessions and soccer games, Bryan remained undeterred. Sometimes this meant, giving up a weekend picnic, other times foregoing a family vacation.
It was not so much a personal commitment – though that was a part – nor to set himself for career advancement, although that certainly played a role. No, for Bryan, finally securing his degree was about setting the right example for his children.
Bryan and Stacy, a faculty/program coordinator for the University at Arizona –South, had always emphasized the importance of higher education. Stacy finished her undergraduate and graduate degrees over the course of their marriage; it was imperative that Bryan followed through and put his own words into action. He was always finding a reason to go back to school; he needed to finish.
Now, that Bryan says his family was instrumental to his success.
“We had a den – a study room, with four laptops. Every night, the four of us – me, my wife, who was finishing her master’s, and my daughter and son, both in college at that point, would sit around the table, studying, working on our homework, trying to finish up any last-minute assignments. I remember when I first took calculus, and my daughter, Tabitha, who was attending the University at Arizona at the time and is now an advisor at the institution, would spend extra time tutoring me, helping me get back to speed,” said Bryan.
So, with degree in hand, what are Bryan’s plans for the future?
“I love what I’m doing now, so there are no plans for a change anytime soon. But my degree has really equipped me with the knowledge and practice to be a more efficient and effective worker, which will help both the corporation’s bottom-line and my own – and it puts me on par with my peers in terms of advancement. You can’t really ask for more.”
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