As the famous quote goes, “College is the best four or five years of your life.” As far as the graduation class of 2017 at Southeast Missouri State University goes, however, that range was a little wider.

Amongst the 1,370 students who received degrees this spring, it took one student just two years and another 36.

Megan Chisum started at Southeast in the fall of 2015 and two short years later, she had two degrees.

Chisum graduated with a bachelor of science in psychology and a bachelor of art is global studies. She was one of 12 undergraduate students to graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA in the college of liberal arts, and was a member of the Jane Stephens Honors program.

Chisum said it took a lot of hard work and dedication to graduate in such a short amount of time. Most of the work actually started before she came to Southeast.

Chisum came to Southeast classified as a junior, thanks to the 66 credit hours she had earned in dual credit programs she took during high school.

While at Southeast, she not only excelled in the classroom, but was recognized and involved around campus within several different organizations and programs. Chisum was a member of Psi Chi, CSIS, President’s Leadership Academy, Jane Stephens Honors Program, was a recipient of the Power of Women scholarship, planned two Alumni Mentoring Banquets and even studied abroad in Italy, England and Venice.

“Having more time would be cool, but my time is up,” Chisum said.

Now that she is graduated, Chisum hopes to find a career with a federal law enforcement agency.

Zenita Smith has been taking classes at Southeast since 1981. In the 36 years it took her to earn her general studies degree, she homed over 60 children as a foster parent over a 12-year span, raised her own children, and worked full time.

Smith said she had been on and off with college within those 36 years, a large motivator for her to get her degree initially was an opportunity to teach art full time, something she could not do until she completed college.

Smith said through lots of perseverance and several weekends full of studying and homework, she was finally able to obtain a degree. As she finished the last of her classwork, she recalls a feeling of relief.

“If you have a dream, just follow it,” Smith said. “Don’t give up.”