"Wasewi Shawl was a champion runner, so she knows that races are won by putting one foot in front of the other.

But when the Browning native started college, she had no idea that the race for her degree would become a marathon rather than the sprint she once envisioned.

"I think if the me who started here saw the me of today, she'd be surprised," said Shawl, who will receive a bachelor's degree in community health from Montana State University on Saturday, May 7, almost seven years after she began. "I have had some hard times here, but they helped make me who I am. And I like who I am, so I'm glad for them."

If those thoughts sound mature for a 25-year-old, it is because Shawl, who is slight and soft-spoken, has stood tall against disappointments that might have broken someone else, and she has found redemption on the other side."

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Browning student is strengthened and transformed by the journey for her degree (MSU News 5/4)