Miltonette Craig

Motivation to pursue a graduate degree

In short, I decided to pursue a (second) graduate education because I discovered my passion for teaching and mentoring a bit later in my career. I initially thought that “beating the odds” and moving beyond the disadvantage of my home neighborhood would be sufficiently fulfilling. However, I soon realized that personal success was not enough. Helping others reach their goals was also necessary because, without support and encouragement, I could not have reached my own. This is the primary reason why I applied for the Florida Education Fund’s McKnight Doctoral Fellowship. The Fellowship’s purpose is to assist doctoral students (both financially through the payment of tuition and fees and academically through numerous conferences, workshops, and seminars each year) who will go on to become college and university faculty. Thus, McKnight is helping me achieve my goal of helping others—so that I can show others that they can, too.