A Graduation Walk to Remember

Scruggs’s condition makes it difficult for her to move around without her walker. Leading into Saturday’s ceremony, however, she was determined to walk across the commencement stage unassisted. It was an ambitious goal and a surprise that she did not share with her family.

“It’s not like it was my first time walking by myself,” Scruggs said. “I use my walker full-time at school because of distance, and having to walk and stop is a challenge for me.”

Scruggs decided to make the walk early this year. She reached out to commencement organizers with the idea.

“I ended up talking to Dr. Mynatt (UMHB’s Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness), who told me ‘Yes, I want to make this happen for you,” Scruggs said.

While some staff members expressed concerns for her safety, Scruggs remembers the overwhelming support she received leading up to the big moment.

“I was really worried that I would start crying on stage,” Scruggs said. “I knew that my family did not know, and this was going to be huge for them.”

For Scruggs, the actual walk across the stage took on a surreal quality.

“I don’t even know what I was feeling in that moment other than, ‘Oh my gosh! This is happening. I’m doing it,” Scruggs said.

Scrugg’s friend, Maggie Bates, accompanied her across the stage, offering words of support along the way. Once the two had made their way back down to the ground, Scruggs found her family in the crowd.

“We got off the stage, and [Bates] looked up and saw my family and saw them crying, and she started crying,” Scruggs said.

Scruggs sees her graduation ceremony as yet another moment in which her campus community came together to support her.

“It definitely was a really great moment that was consistent with my time at UMHB,” Scruggs said. “Every challenge I’ve had, I would just talk to a professor and we would find a way to make it work.”

See the KBTX story about Taylor's walk here.