danny weber: blazing a trail
Danny Weber wasn't supposed to graduate from college.
He wasn’t even supposed to graduate from high school.
None of his family had. Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins—no one had finished high school, much less college. They quit school to get married, he says, or to get a job or just to get away.
First To Finish
Asked how he managed to finish high school, Danny says that looking around, watching others, he knew that an education would be the best way for him to succeed in life: “That’s pretty much what drove me.”
It took a few years, but this past year Danny also earned a degree from UIS
Time in the Navy
Following high school, he joined the navy, knowing that eventually the military would pay for his college. For nine years the navy gave him a great life as an operations specialist.
Then he injured his knee, and that promise of college came back. He began taking courses at a community college in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was stationed.
Then UIS
Two years later, after separation from the navy, he and his wife returned to central Illinois, and he enrolled at UIS.
“I have always been interested in sports,” he says. “I like writing. So I thought communications or mass media would be the best career field for me.”
The broad-based mass media program at UIS—“a pretty large umbrella”—appealed to him. Once he began classes, he grew to appreciate the professors’ interest and commitment to their students even more. “There are so many professors I email on a regular basis,” he says. “We write back and forth just to check in and see how things are going.”
A Professor's Personal Interest
At the end of Danny’s junior year, one of his professors, Kavitha Cardoza (who has since gone on to work for NPR in Washington, D.C.), set up an internship for Danny at WAND-TV in Decatur, Illinois. “She really went above and beyond,” Danny says. “She didn’t have to do it. She did it just to help me.”
Five weeks into that internship, WAND offered Danny a part-time job working on the station’s internet content, and four weeks after that, when the internet manager quit, WAND offered Danny a fulltime job.
Accepting the offer presented quite a challenge. He still had a year left on his degree. He would have to juggle classes and work, while still carving out time for his wife and two young sons.
Back to Florida
But if you know anything about UIS, you know how well the university accommodates working adults who want to finish a degree. In Danny’s case, it worked out so well that in March he felt comfortable moving back to Jacksonville for a job as night assignment editor at WJXT (bigger market, better pay). At that point, he had all his classes online. He finished on time to graduate this past May—the first in his family to make it through college.
His UIS Degree
When Danny graduated from high school, most of his family showed up: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They were so excited, Danny says.
When Danny graduated from college, he had another huge party to celebrate an even bigger turning point for the family—their first college graduate. With Danny leading the way, he has every expectation of more family members from future generations joining him.
And Danny knows, if they decide to attend UIS, they’ll find a warm welcome and professors deeply committed to their success—just what Danny himself found when he enrolled at UIS.
Your Gifts Can Make the Crucial Difference
Your gifts will help UIS lead students like Danny to success. In his own words: “By donating to the university, you’ll be allowing the next generation of students to receive the same type of benefit, the same education that you received. You’ll help make the school even better than what it is.” Please make your gift today.
