FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — When Elizabeth Bibus says there are opportunities for growth even in your darkest hours, she knows. Does she ever.
Elizabeth graduates next week summa cum laudewith a bachelor’s degree in social work from Tarleton State University on the campus of McLennan Community College in Waco. She will deliver the commencement address in graduation exercises at 10 a.m. Friday, May 10, in Stephenville.
Her speech outlines the obstacles she has overcome to be a college graduate on the cusp of a career in social work.
Most of her adolescence was spent in Stafford, Va., where she dropped out of school after the ninth grade. Her parents were addicted to methamphetamine. She assumed custody of a younger sister when most girls her age were graduating from high school.
Her mom died when Elizabeth was 18. She had overcome her addiction and was clean and sober for the last 15 years of her life. She took her two daughters to Hubbard, Texas, to be near a friend as she battled liver cancer.
“I got custody of my sister, who was 13 at the time. We moved to public housing in Waco. It’s kind of a sad, morbid journey, but I’m glad I’m where I am now.”
Not only did she have her sister to care for, she had a 1-year-old son and was eight months pregnant when her mother died.
“It was definitely a rough time. We were raised very, very poor. We spent the majority of our youth in different public housing complexes. We saw a lot of violence and gang activity.”
Now 32 with five children, ages 4 to 14, Elizabeth looks back with an understanding of what she had to do to remove herself and her family from a similar fate.
“It took us a long time to recover from that, figure out how to break the cycle of poverty and go back to school. That’s been my focus, really, just to change my life and the lives of my children.”
That personal epiphany led her directly to her educational choice and career path.
“I think it was the foundation of my decision to go into social work,” she said. “When you have been given the opportunity to live a life that’s not necessarily indicative of what society believes you should have lived, I think it gives you an obligation to pay it forward, to share your experience.
“There’s a lot of trauma I’ve been through, but I really believe that in those darkest moments is your chance to grow. When you’re done with your work on yourself, it’s time to work on your community, to make an impact.”
The Tarleton social work program, in her estimation, has put her in a positon to do just that,
“The program provides so many social work hats. There are lots of opportunities students get to try different areas of social work. The program focuses on a broad view of social work and humanity, and allows students to look at things from a variety of perspectives.”
She plans to share her journey in Friday’s address.
“The idea is that circumstances, your past and who you are today don’t have to define who you become. You can use that and change reality, not just for yourself, but for everyone around you.”
Elizabeth has changed her own reality with the help of her family, especially Mike, her husband of 10 years.
“He has been Superman. There’s no other word to describe it. He has worked 12-hour shifts, nights, days, weekends, just to make sure he can be home for the kids when I’m not.”
She has already been accepted into Tarleton’s master’s program for social work. After that, she’ll hit the workforce with a long list of things she’d like to accomplish.
“I guess I’d really like to go into macro social work — policy, legislation, that kind of thing — and I’d really like to focus on breaking down the public education system and starting a rebuild from the ground up,” she said.
“A lot of kids in situations like mine have special needs and they often fall through the cracks. I think we lose a lot of potential that way. I want to find a way to help provide for at-risk youth. They stand a really good chance of becoming amazing people, contributors of society, but some just need a hand.”
Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.
Contact: Phil Riddle, News and Information Specialist
817-484-4415
priddle@tarleton.edu
