{"id":68343,"date":"2016-05-12T06:37:19","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T10:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=68343"},"modified":"2016-05-11T18:41:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T22:41:50","slug":"former-homeless-vet-to-receive-degree-at-120th-usc-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=68343","title":{"rendered":"Former homeless vet to receive degree at 120th USC graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><a href=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?attachment_id=68344\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-68344\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-68344\" src=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/USC-300x129.png\" alt=\"USC\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/USC.png 300w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/USC-150x65.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The Business College will celebrate its 120th graduation at <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_829401689\"><span class=\"aQJ\">6 p.m.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_829401690\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday, May 12,<\/span><\/span> at\u00a0Harts Hill Inn, 135 Clinton St., Whitesboro;\u00a086 students will receive degrees giving USC the distinction of celebrating more than 10,000\u00a0graduates since its inception in 1896.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>USC specializes in meeting the personal needs of the non-traditional student. Many students\u00a0who come to USC work full-time, have families to support and don\u2019t believe a college degree\u00a0can happen for them. Backed by an understanding of students\u2019 life circumstances, USC has\u00a0created an environment that addresses these needs and beliefs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Juan Rucker, 45, of Utica, is one student who benefited from USC\u2019s specialized programs. Two\u00a0years ago, Rucker, a Marine Corps veteran, was homeless and believed a college degree\u00a0impossible.<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>That belief since has vanished. Juan will graduate <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_829401691\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday<\/span><\/span> and receive his associate\u2019s degree in\u00a0business administration. He credits the support, flexibility and encouragement from USC staff\u00a0and faculty to this significant life change.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Without a degree, I could not move forward with my life,\u201d said Rucker, who will assist men like\u00a0him working with the VA in Syracuse and Working Solutions. \u201cUSC opening their doors and\u00a0accepting me, granted me that opportunity to just look further &#8211; at anything.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Business College will celebrate its 120th graduation at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at\u00a0Harts Hill Inn, 135 Clinton St., Whitesboro;\u00a086 students will receive degrees giving USC the distinction of celebrating more than 10,000\u00a0graduates since its inception in 1896. USC specializes in meeting the personal needs of the non-traditional student. Many students\u00a0who come to USC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,21571],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-top-story","category-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}