Meridian Community College alumna Gwendolen Moore is a good example of never giving up.

Confined to a wheelchair, Moore graduated from MCC last week during summer commencement at the Temple Theatre and received her pin during a pinning ceremony for the new Licensed Practical Nursing students.

“Just because you have a disability of some sort doesn’t mean that you can’t follow your dreams,” said Moore.

“I wish I had done it when I was a lot younger because It might have been a little easier on me,” she said of going to college in her 50s. “But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really had a good journey.”

On April 1, 1984, Moore’s life changed when she was in a car wreck, a young teenager at the time.

“It broke my back and bent and twisted my spinal cord and left me a T7, T8 paraplegic,” said the Philadelphia resident.

Suddenly, her dreams of going to vet school at Mississippi State University and becoming a veterinarian faded.

“I got hurt and reality kind of sinks in and you are like, ‘that will never happen.’ I knew I was being a little unrealistic at that point,” she said of her vet school dreams.

In and out of rehabilitation centers for a number years, she went on to live a fairly normal life with a family and working a job. For nearly the last seven years, she has been employed at Neshoba General Hospital first in the Emergency Department and more recently in the department that oversees the hospital’s clinics.

Last year, she happened to be watching TV one day when she came across a commercial for MCC. The person in the commercial inspired her and made her feel ”like I can come and get my wings,” she said of the college’s motto.

“It took me going through life and getting older to realize, ‘hey I can still do that dream if I want to,’” Moore said.

As a result, she signed up for classes at MCC in August 2022 to begin working toward her LPN in nursing.

“I have always admired and envied the women in blue,” she said of nurses. “I thought I am a little old, but I still wanted to try.”

Despite her handicap and being a grandmother, she fit in with the other students. Because of her disability, she often faced challenges at first.

“It was definitely challenging, difficult, stressful, but now that I have made it, it is fantastic. I am really excited,” Moore said.

Moore said they had to work through several issues in the program in the beginning but that the MCC staff was wonderful in trying to help accommodate her needs.

“We worked through a few little issues we had, but the last two semesters have been really good. I have done everything about as normal as everyone else,” she said.

Bethany Files, program director of MCC’s Practical Nursing Program, said Moore’s determination and work ethic has not only impressed her but the people where she performed her clinical rotations for the LPN program.

“From a personal standpoint, when I first met Gwen, honestly, I thought I do not know how she is going to do what our program requires,” Files said.

“Not only was she able to do what was needed to be done but she did above and beyond what was needed to be done,” she said. “It really changed my perspective.”

Moore said she is currently in talks with two hospitals about job opportunities and she is even thinking about applying to MCC’s Associate Degree Nursing Program.

“I am excited for what the future holds,” she said.