{"id":51861,"date":"2025-12-02T10:23:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/?p=51861"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:26:07","slug":"just-start-it-will-get-clearer-meet-fall-2025-graduate-nichola-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/2025\/12\/02\/just-start-it-will-get-clearer-meet-fall-2025-graduate-nichola-c\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJust Start. It Will Get Clearer.\u201d Meet fall 2025 graduate Nichola C."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

At 54, Nichola Cotto is proving that there\u2019s no deadline on pursuing your dreams. This fall, she\u2019ll walk the stage at ACC\u2019s Commencement Ceremony, joining more than 4,440 graduates at the H-E-B Center on Thursday, December 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nichola enrolled in ACC\u2019s Paralegal AAS program because, as she put it, \u201cIt offered the best degree program for me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But getting started wasn\u2019t easy. One of her biggest challenges was tuning out everyone who questioned her decision. \u201cThe noise of people asking me why I would want to go back to school in my 50s was something I had to push past.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing she was making the right decision for herself, despite what others said, came almost immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe very first class I took was on the road to getting here to the finish line next week,\u201d Nichola says. From there, her confidence grew with every course. She took 4\u20135 classes each semester and surprised herself with how much she could take on: \u201cI have pushed myself to learn new things and achieve greater things than I thought I could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, she found support at every turn. \u201cEvery time I had an issue, I could email, call, or visit a campus, and it was always taken care of.\u201d She credits every faculty member she met: \u201cAll of them are unique and great in their own way. Their dedication to teaching is a blessing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After she crosses the graduation stage, she\u2019s not slowing down. Nichola gets straight to work on her bachelor\u2019s degree at Liberty University in January and plans to continue into law school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone hesitating to get started, Nichola\u2019s message is simple and heartfelt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think you have to have it all figured out before you start. Just start \u2014 it will all get clearer and clearer the closer you get to your goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join us in celebrating Nichola and all of ACC\u2019s Fall 2025 graduates by leaving them a message on our Congrats Grads Padlet Wall!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, visit austincc.edu\/commencement<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 54, Nichola Cotto is proving that there\u2019s no deadline on pursuing your dreams. This fall, she\u2019ll walk the stage at ACC\u2019s Commencement Ceremony, joining more than 4,440 graduates at the H-E-B Center on Thursday, December 11. Nichola enrolled in ACC\u2019s Paralegal AAS program because, as she put it, \u201cIt offered the best degree program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":51862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1004,1447,1448,1454],"class_list":["post-51861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-congrats-grads","tag-fall-2025-commencement","tag-fall-2025-graduation","tag-paralegal","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}