Meet Maricela and Keith Garrison, '06

Military Service Makes Earning Degrees a Family Affair

For the Garrisons, earning a Thomas Edison State College degree was a family affair.

Both served in the United States armed forces, and learned about the College’s flexible, high-quality programs through a military education center.

Maricela Rivera-Garrison, a human resource assistant with the U.S. Army’s Non-Appropriated Funds — Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, began her education first and explained that her husband was inspired to pursue his degree at Thomas Edison State College because it’s convenient program would work best with his busy military career.

 “What we both liked about Thomas Edison State College was the distance learning format as well as the way the terms started every month,” noted Staff Sgt. Keith Garrison, a headquarters platoon sergeant stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.

They celebrated their accomplishment together, receiving their degrees at the College’s 34th Annual Commencement in October 2006. Rivera-Garrison received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in human resources management and Garrison received an Associate in Applied Science degree in mechanics and maintenance.

The couple has two sons, and agreed that being working parents and attending college was challenging. They said earning their degrees would often be stressful because they also needed to provide for their family and not having enough time in the day to do it all. However, Thomas Edison State College was the solution.