STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Sidne Erwin is a non-traditional student at Tarleton State University. She receives her diploma signifying a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in mathematics during Friday’s 6 p.m. commencement exercises at Memorial Stadium.

She will also deliver the student address.

“I don’t have a sob story,” she said. “I just have a story about how I’d been out for a long time, and it was intimidating coming back, but I did it.”

Erwin grew up in western Kansas but has called Stephenville home for the last 11 years. 

“I raised my three children here,” she said. “I put down roots. I live five minutes from campus, so it was really my only choice.” 

With a bachelor’s degree in accounting in her rearview mirror, she took on the task of teaching math to her kids. That’s when she realized her ability to teach others could extend beyond her own family. 

“I home schooled my children all the way up,” she said. “My friends, who also homeschooled, were not as secure teaching math by the time their kids got to junior high. I ended up teaching a lot of homeschooled kids teaching at some co-ops and for a couple of years at a private school.”

With that instructional background, she began to consider adding to her educational chops, but she still had her doubts.

“Coming back to school after raising three kids was pretty intimidating,” she said. “When you are out of school for a long time you think, ‘There’s no way I can do that.’ 

“I came back and was encouraged and supported by the Tarleton faculty. When I would freak out and think, ‘There’s no way I can do this,’ I would always find someone who would talk me down off my ledge.”

She has settled into life on campus, serving as a risk management officer for the Tarleton Educators for the Advancement of Mathematics (T.E.A.M.) and a member of the Tarleton State Math Club while working as a graduate assistant teaching statistics.

“I love teaching statistics,” Erwin said. “It’s a different math language. I love explaining it in different ways so that the students understand it. It’s my favorite thing.”

With newfound confidence, she plans to continue teaching college-level math.

“I like the entry level courses,” she said. “I especially like the foundational courses, teaching students who have not had a good math experience. I like to turn them around and show them how much fun math is.”

Her experience at Tarleton State has not gone unnoticed by her children.

“My kids laugh at me because my friends are the same age as my children,” Erwin said. “You share a common experience, and it doesn’t matter how old you are.”

A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State University is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of approximately 18,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. For 125 years, Tarleton State has been committed to accessible higher education opportunities for all while helping students grow academically, socially and professionally through programs that emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.