Graduate Chelsea Carroll has overcome great challenges to succeed in college… and says she won’t stop until she earns her PhD in neuroscience.
As we celebrate our graduates this May, we hear many powerful stories about their experience—both in college and in life. More often than not, they’re stories of overcoming significant obstacles to reach their dreams.
During our 2025 commencement ceremonies, we got to hear from one of these students with a powerful experience. Here is Chelsea’s inspiring story, in her own words…
Chelsea Carroll: Associate of Science Graduate
Hello, everyone! Thank you faculty, family, and friends, for being here to celebrate with us—and to my fellow graduates: CONGRATULATIONS!! I am honored to be here with you at this defining moment in our lives.
My name is Chelsea Carroll and I’m graduating with my Associate of Science degree. My hope in being here is to remind you of something that I believe is the most powerful force that has ever emerged from nature: It has shaped civilizations, inspired global movements, and is transforming our world. I would like to speak with you about the power of your voice.
Finding Her Voice
I learned of this immense power during what I anticipated would be a short summer mythology course to fulfill my humanities credits. I discovered that storytelling—whether through ancient myths, historical narratives, or our personal experiences—is the very foundation of who we are as humans… and for who we may become.
Everything we rely on—governments, currency, education, even the very concept of keeping time—first began as an abstract idea, a story we imagined and then shared, until collectively we brought it into reality. I learned that it is not just the words we speak, but the voice within defining everything we do, that is incredibly powerful.
Shaping Her Own Narrative
A similar lesson propelled me to return to school after a decade of working in hospice care. During that time, I had the honor of helping my patients navigate the path we must all take at the end of our lives, and as I witnessed their final hopes and regrets, I noticed something profound: Some approach that moment with bitterness, and others, with joy. I couldn’t help but question the difference, and I learned that one had allowed their pain to define them; the other, to transform them.
It was then, as I battled my own PTSD and depression, that I first realized I was in control of how my life was shaping me—and my Mythology class taught me that we must also question how we are shaping the world through the stories we choose to tell.
Overcoming Challenges
I could, for instance, just tell you about my abusive childhood, the oppression of being homeschooled until I was fourteen, that my family crumbled at sixteen and I was all but on my own. I could tell you about how I was trafficked for three years across multiple state lines—living in the backseats of stolen vehicles and locked attics and basements.
I could tell you about my journey home at nineteen with nothing but the clothes on my back and my daughter; that they took everything from me. I could tell you about the four times in fourteen years that I attempted and failed at achieving higher education; or I could tell you about being homeless at thirty and living in a rusty van.
I could tell you about my anger, my defeat, and my pain; how these experiences could have cemented me in the belief that I had no power over my own life, let alone the world I am a part of.
Focusing on Her Purpose
What I will choose to tell you instead is that I inherited my passion, my love of learning, and my independence from my parents. Those who took everything from me left me with a very clear purpose and I WILL continue moving forward to hold my PhD in neuroscience so that I can focus on the prevention of abusive behaviors and the generational trauma it propels.
My daughter is my closest friend, a light in this world, and I would endure every step of that journey again for her.
I’ll tell you, that if I had succeeded at my first attempt at higher education, I would not have had to fight so hard to become the woman I am today, and that would be a tragedy.
I’ll tell you if I had not stood atop our van Maxine on my thirtieth birthday in the silence of the redwood forest—I would not have been able to hear my inner voice so clearly.
I would not be able to speak to you today of my joy, my hope, and my gratitude, and that I have the power to decide whether my pain defines me or transforms me.
Changing the World
We are currently witnessing global division, conflict, and crises that threaten to further separate us, but if history has taught us anything, it should be that the greatest movements toward peace and progress have begun not in the absence of conflict, but in the face of it. It is now more than ever that we must recognize the responsibility we share in shaping the world through the stories we choose to tell ourselves, and others.
Our words can create or destroy. As we close this chapter and step into the next, how can we use this awareness?
A Shared Purpose
There is a theory that to build a ship you need not instruct others; you only need to instill in them a longing for the sea. We do not need to agree on a perfect vision for our futures as individuals, we simply must be brave enough to listen to one another and acknowledge that we have a shared longing for change.
Our story does not end here, and I for one, will not stop until I can say at the end of my own life that I’ve allowed the challenges of being human to transform me and this world, in a positive way.
If we want to set sail toward a future of understanding, peace, and unity, we have a ship to build. I cannot tell you what part in that is yours to play, but I challenge you to realize the power you hold and to open your heart to others, because our voices may ring separately in the present moment, but to future generations, they will resound as one legacy.
To the Class of 2025:
Wherever your journey takes you next, remember this: We are shaping reality not only for ourselves, but for all humanity. I am so proud to be a part of this community and to know that I am stepping forward alongside each and every one of you.
Thank you for having me, and congratulations, class of 2025!
Now that you’ve heard Chelsea’s story, we’d like for you to hear from some of her fellow graduates about their experiences at FRCC.
