For York Tech Student, Tuesday Will Bring Graduation Walk Earned Many Times Over

By Karen Bair, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

May 11–No hurdle is too high for a woman aptly named “Goforth.”

When Kathy Goforth walks at her York Technical College commencement Tuesday, it will mark the end of a long journey paved over obstacles.

A former high school dropout, she’s already earned two diplomas and a pile of college certificates. But she’s never attended her own graduation. Family needs, illness always prevented it.

When she’s handed her associate degree in network administration Tuesday, her husband, two grown children and five grandchildren will cheer her on.

“It will be the realization of a dream,” she said.

She’s a bright light in a dark, windowless office filled with computer equipment at the Moss Justice Center in York. She looks much younger than her 40-something years.

She manages the computer system for the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, including those in Rock Hill and Union County. It’s a professional field dominated by men, but that never deterred Goforth. She wanted to pursue a career in computers from the moment one was installed in the weaver’s room at Cannon Mills.

One of five children whose father supported his family on a textile worker’s salary, she dropped out of high school in York in her sophomore year to help her family. She ran spools and worked her way up to a supervisory post.

She met her husband at Cannon Mills, and they had two children. Meanwhile, she took night classes to earn her high school diploma, which she received in the mail.

“I never like to leave things unfinished,” she said.

With two children and a full-time mill job, she began pursuing a degree in computers in the early 1990s. It was impossible to attend school full time, so she took the bulk of her courses online.

She has since earned York Tech certificates in computer applications, network operations and as a network administrator and Webmaster. It took seven certifications to earn her Microsoft Systems Engineer certification and five for her Microsystems administrator certificate. She finished her associate degree in applied computer science from the Center for Degree Studies in 1996.

That was when she began having severe headaches and still had never attended one of her graduation ceremonies. Tests proved a bone in her skull was growing abnormally and placing pressure on the brain and the optic nerve in her right eye. Physicians called it fibrous dysplasia.

She underwent the first of four surgeries in two years, still attending class, a ball cap on her head to cover the staples and sunglasses to veil the bruising and her eye stitched shut.

She scheduled surgeries between semesters and managed to earn another certificate every six months. Yet, she never made it to the ceremony.

“I’m sure people thought I was an abused spouse,” she said with a smile.

She joined the solicitor’s office seven years ago. Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson counts her as a friend as well as a colleague.

“She’s not a quitter,” he said. “There’s never been a time Kathy said, ‘We just can’t do that.’ She keeps searching and searching until it works.”

She still has vision problems in her right eye but considers it no disability. Goforth credits the county and the solicitor’s office for supporting her and her spiritual beliefs, as well.

Then there’s her husband, who works third shift and only saw her at breakfast.

“He is the most patient man in the world,” she said. “He spent many a lonely evening while I went to school and studied.”

They’ll all enjoy dinner out after the ceremony. Then the couple is taking a few days off.

Her journey won’t end there.

“You never give up on a dream,” she said. “Once you realize one, you should find another. You always have to have something to shoot for.”

She plans to go for another certificate.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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