High school teacher and adjunct college professor Lacy Morrow wouldn’t be thought of as someone who had grappled with awkward shyness at first glance. It was a struggle she encountered as a little girl, so much so that it worried her mother.
“I couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to Midland and be close to family, and especially the opportunity to return to ECHSMC!” Morrow said, according to a press release.
“My mother knew that I would probably be miserable in a large high school,” the 25-year-old Morrow recalled. “I was never a great student, but I probably would have been very unsuccessful in a traditional, big high school.”
Morrow was an eighth-grader when she discovered Early College High School at Midland College (ECHSMC), which provided her with the chance to graduate with an associate degree at the same time she earned her high school diploma which cost her family nothing, the release reported.
“It was a pretty easy decision that I should definitely apply,” she said.
Her time at ECHSMC from when she received her acceptance correspondence was spent shaping herself into an assertive, confident and independent young woman.
Morrow recalled attending elementary and junior high school, not drawing the attention of her teachers.
“At ECHSMC, it was a completely different experience,” she said in the release.
Among the teachers she had, British Literature instructor Allison Gibbons-Brown stood out the most.
“Allison is an amazing teacher and her independence and self-confidence were truly inspiring,” Morrow said. “Even after I finished the course, we continued to stay in touch, and the summer before my senior year at ECHSMC, she recommended me to attend a creative writing camp at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
“That was an awesome experience for me.”
The shy girl that was Morrow was gone when she entered her senior year, replaced by a young woman who was student council president, a school ambassador and a member of the MC newspaper staff.
Per the release, she graduated from ECHSMC with her associate’s degree and her diploma in 2016.
Two years later, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Angelo State University (ASU) followed by a master’s degree from the same institution.
“I couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to Midland and be close to family, and especially the opportunity to return to ECHSMC!” Morrow said, according to the release.