Billie Logiudice Billie LogiudiceIn her late 30s, Billie Logiudice was left with four children to support and only a high school education. Fortunately for her, the East Williamson County Higher Education Center (EWCHEC) had just opened its new facility in her hometown of Hutto. Logiudice was one of the first students who enrolled to take classes from Temple College at the new EWCHEC facility and on May 12, she walked across the stage to receive her associate degree – the first step toward her goal of becoming a middle school teacher.

“If it wasn’t for Temple College I would not have been able to get this degree,” Logiudice says.

Logiudice juggled classes with raising four children, working part-time as the Children’s Director at Calvary Austin, and a variety of civic activities, including serving on the Hutto School Board.

“I wanted to set an example for my children that in life we have to be brave, persevere and keep trusting in and relying on God to make a way,” she says.

Those efforts have paid off, as her oldest child is finishing his sophomore year at Sam Houston State University, and her next child will be heading to Blinn College in the fall.

“Sometimes I don’t realize the accomplishments until I look back and see how far God has brought me through this journey and in turn how He has used this experience to impact my children when we could easily have taken a different path,” Logiudice says.

After she applied for graduation, Logiudice says she got into her car and cried for about 10 minutes.

“I did not realize I would be so emotional about it,” she says.

Logiudice has enrolled at Texas A&M University-Central Texas, which also offers classes at the EWCHEC facility in Hutto, and will be taking some additional classes through Temple College this summer so she can apply to the teaching program at TAMU-CT.