June 2005

Commencement 2004

Victory Over the Past, Gateway to the Future

By Marlene Ledbetter
Special to FYI Online

Linda Edmunds with her sons at UMUC’s 2005 commencement ceremony.

For Linda Edmunds, UMUC’s 2005 commencement ceremony was more than a beginning. It was a victory over the past as well.

Edmunds, 39, completed her bachelor’s degree in business administration at UMUC with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. She did it juggling dual roles as a single mother of three young boys and full-time employee. What is more remarkable is that she reached her academic goal while overcoming the sort of trauma that would have crushed a less determined person.

Edmunds’ ordeal began one November night in 2001 when she was awakened by gunshots. Her husband—who had no history of violence—was shooting her. Her memories of the attack are sketchy, but she recalls her husband shoving her downstairs and threatening to shoot their oldest son. Later, she remembers her three frightened boys being questioned by police while she was loaded into a medical helicopter.

Surgeons removed four bullets from her body: one from each leg, one from her lungs, and one that had entered her lower back and traveled into her abdomen. A fifth bullet was left in her head, embedded in her skull.

Her husband was convicted and sentenced to a prison term as Edmunds was left to recover her physical and mental health.

“I had to start moving forward and focus on everything positive,” said Edmunds. “And I had to build a future for myself as a single mom, both for me and my three boys.”

Education was the obvious answer. A year after the attack, Edmunds began her studies at UMUC, enrolling in both online and face-to-face courses. Although she enjoyed the personal interaction that face-to-face courses offered, online courses provided the flexibility she needed to handle family and job responsibilities. She also took a number of classes at the University of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus, convenient to her home and job. In addition to a bachelor’s degree, she completed three undergraduate certificates.

Edmunds was able to apply UMUC coursework to her job as a civilian program analyst for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Her job includes financial management as well as customer service, and she has been able to use work projects as subjects for term papers and to apply coursework to specific project management tasks at the office. Connecting her work to her studies enhanced her performance on both fronts, she said.

Edmunds credited her family and employer for her academic success. Her parents helped care for the children and her supervisor allowed a flexible work schedule to accommodate classroom time. Even the boys helped, taking on household chores and proofreading papers.

Although she said she sees a graduate degree in the future, for now Edmunds’ priority has shifted to her children and their education. Her oldest son starts high school this fall, and she will have to work to give her children the emotional and financial support they will need to complete college.

“But I don’t want them to think they can make excuses or hide behind obstacles,” she said.

The Edmunds boys already have a head start learning one of life’s most valuable lessons. Their mother’s example has taught them how to overcome adversity with courage, determination, self-sufficiency, and hard work.

For Edmunds, a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson has guided her way: “What lies behind you and what lies before you pale in significance when compared to what lies within you.”