When the Mesa College commencement ceremony takes place on June 2, one graduate will be Sgt. Donna Goodno who is finally realizing the goal that took her nearly 25 years to accomplish.

“This is her last class and I’m really excited for her,” said Professor Jenny Kimm, who teaches the Business Statistics class Goodno needed to complete for her requirements.

The two have never met because Goodno completed the class online while deployed in Iraq.

Meeting the demands of a rigorous military job as well as completing coursework means less time for sleep.

“My day starts at 5:30 in the morning and we usually end up working till after 9:00 pm then I come back to work and do the homework and study,” Goodno said. “I usually get done by midnight or 1:00 and the day starts again.”

The San Diego native began her college career at Mesa in 1982, after graduating from high school. She was considering a career in either the computer field or criminal psychology.

She enlisted in the Air Force and attended basic training in 1984. From that point until 1992, her academic course was put in abeyance as she was stationed in England, Turkey, and Germany before returning to the U.S. In those times, there were limited opportunities to take classes toward her degree, so she instead concentrated on advancing her military career.

While in the military, she got the job she wanted programming computers. Meanwhile she hedged her bets and took classes through the military for criminal psychology.

She decided to leave active duty in 1992 and returned to San Diego. She got a job, signed on with the California Air National Guard and returned to college after nearly a decade-long absence.

After a stint as a Qualcomm supervisor, Goodno made a decision to change her college major. She wanted to change direction and so she set her sights on a degree in Business Administration. She is hoping to combine her knowledge, training and experience in the computer field with managing people.

She points out, “I have been in management for many years and I am good at handling people and getting the job done efficiently. I want to find something that I enjoy and go with it.”

And military obligations are not the only thing that slowed her academic progress.

Personal setbacks also were a hurdle she had to overcome in pursuit of her degree, like the time in her life when she was going through a divorce.

“I barely got through that semester, it was very hard. I ended up taking off a semester of school,” she recalls.

Through the years and after several changes in major course of study, the 44-year-old notes that her perspective as a student has changed.

“I think that school became a lot more important to me,” Goodno said. “I wanted to focus more on the grades then I did when I was younger. I guess that is part of age.”

Not surprisingly, Goodno believes qualities that helped her to succeed in the military also have helped her to achieve her goal of graduating from Mesa.

“I like discipline-it helped me keep going with my education when people told me to quit school so I could have more free time.”

And if self discipline is essential in college that goes double for online classes.

“She is an ideal online student because she is very self motivated and communicates really well over email,” Professor Kimm said of Goodno.

Goodno’s father, Don Goodno, expresses similar sentiments. “We’re real proud of her,” he said. “She worked really hard and it’s finally paying off.”

He says that she’s always been a “go-getter.” And, he jokingly adds, “She loves bossing guys around.”

Joan Goodno, Sgt. Goodno’s mother, said, “My daughter is one of those women that believe in women’s rights, and that women can do anything they want to do.”

Her parents recall that she was a hard worker as a child, helping them run the donut shop they owned. Her mother describes her as a real “organizer.”

“I always thought she would be President one day,” Mrs. Goodno said. “We’re just awfully proud of her.”

Goodno hopes to get a bachelor’s degree in business from San Diego State University.

With the advent of online classes, that goal should be a much quicker process. She jokes, “I don’t want it to be another 20 (years) before I get my B.S.”

But for now, she is looking forward to attending the Mesa College commencement ceremony with her friends, family and members of her military unit to celebrate her accomplishment.

“I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about graduating,” she writes. “It feels like there is actually a real light at the end of the tunnel.”