Edwards shares his story of beating the odds to first-year students at LSUS Convocation

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Edwards shares his story of beating the odds to first-year students at LSUS Convocation

SHREVEPORT - LSUS Professor of the Year A.J. Edwards looked out across a full LSUS Theatre as students piled into First-Year Convocation to celebrate the end of the first week of college classes.

As the keynote speaker, it was Edwards' job to impart wisdom and provide tips to succeed in college.

He did much more.

Statistically speaking, the debate coach and humanities instructor said he never should have graduated, never even began college in the first place.

As a son of a military father and a mother with a high school diploma, Edwards was attempting to be a first-generation college student who spent parts of his childhood "on the verge of homelessness."

"As loving and supportive as my parents were, they didn't know how to push me toward college or have any idea what college looked like," "In my family, you went to work after high school, and that's all we did.

"I didn't take high school very seriously … except for debate. That's where I excelled. And it's only by sheer luck that I made it to college at all."

Then-LSUS debate coach Mary Jarzabek found Edwards on the high school debate trail and convinced him to give college a try.

Edwards attempted his freshman year of college while working two jobs and participating in debate.

Before long, Edwards said he was trying to find reasons to go to class when he could be picking up extra hours working for money he desperately needed.

"Even when college became an option, the need to work and help support the family generally overruled that," Edwards said. "Oftentimes I would come to school so hungry that I was sure that my classmates would be able to hear my stomach growling.

"During that first year, I lost 65 pounds because I didn't have food to eat. With two jobs and debate, I was wondering how I'd ever go to class - and most of the time, I didn't."

Being too prideful to ask for help either in his classes or with basic needs, he said he finished his first semester with a 0.001 GPA.

"College was never supposed to be in my future," Edwards said. "And I was too ashamed to tell my parents or my debate coach.

"I didn't use the resources on campus because I didn't know about them, and even if I had, I had too much pride."

Edwards decided to drop out of college, but his father sat him down for a conversation.

"Nobody in our family has ever had the chance to go to school and do something that could possibly change the world," Edwards recalled. "You have that chance, and I'm really upset that you're wasting it."

Edwards said the support of LSUS faculty and staff is how he finished his bachelor's degree in criminal justice, which led to a master's degree in liberal arts.

"It's only because of the amazing people here at LSUS that I was able to pull things together, to begin to understand what it took to succeed," Edwards said. "Professors and instructors that took extra time, that saw me struggling, that guided me through life. My debate coach never let me walk away.

"I don't tell you these things to make it look like I'm some miraculous individual, or to make it look like I'm anything special. I tell you this so you know that if I can do it, you can do it. It may be tough, and you may have to struggle like you can't imagine, but you can do it. I'm probably half as smart and half as talented as most of you, but because of the help I received at LSUS and because of my refusal to live a life that I knew would make me angry and bitter, I was able to build resilience that refused to let me fail."

Edwards went on to win five national championships in the International Public Debate Association as a student debator and continued LSUS's tradition as a national power program as a coach.

About half of LSUS's student body identify as first-generation students, and they selected a university that's ranked No. 1 in Louisiana in the economic mobility of its graduates.

LSUS has a robust Student Success Center that offers tutoring help, a S.H.A.R.E. Center that directs students to basic needs resources (food, clothing, etc.) federal and state benefits, counseling services to help students cope mentally, career services to match their passion with their major/career choice, and disability services to allow students to fully participate.

Edwards did offer a few insider tips to help smooth their college journey.

Show up and be present in class, ask questions and build relationships with classmates and faculty, use LSUS's vast number of resources, and be all in on the college life by involving yourself in campus organizations and activities.

"The next few years will fly by, and they will fun and terrifying all at the same time," said Edwards, who also teachers First-Year Seminar classes. "They will be filled with long nights that never seem to end, and days that fly by quicker than you can imagine.

"You will find friends that become family, and you will build relationships that will endure a lifetime. Let us at LSUS be your anchor and your compass as you navigate through these next few years."