{"id":25358,"date":"2021-08-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-commencement-speaker-to-emphasize-perseverance\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:51:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:51:29","slug":"tarleton-commencement-speaker-to-emphasize-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-commencement-speaker-to-emphasize-perseverance\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton Commencement Speaker to Emphasize Perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stredic<\/a><\/p>\n

Stredic press<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n

Wednesday, August 4, 2021<\/p>\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tyairra Stredic understands never quit.<\/p>\n

She hopes Tarleton State University summer graduates and their guests will better appreciate the concept after her commencement address at 9 a.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium on the Stephenville campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what comes your way, keep going,\u201d said the Brownwood native, who\u2019s graduating with a master\u2019s in biological science. \u201cBut also, learn from your experiences. Don\u2019t just push at it like it\u2019s a wall. Find different ways around that wall. When things happen, mentally or physically, keep working at it. Don\u2019t sit down and give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She knows her subject. As a junior, working toward her bachelor\u2019s in biomedical sciences, Tyairra was diagnosed with lupus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat put a huge damper on everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI was fatigued and in pain 24-7. I could barely get to my classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were other health setbacks. Last year she suffered a stroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like every semester there was something random.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming these obstacles, she says, makes her graduation even sweeter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me find out how strong I can be. I did have some hang-ups, but I kept grinding and got through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Brownwood High School, her initial plan was to attend Tarleton for two years, then transfer to Texas A&M. But she loved the Tarleton community too much to leave.<\/p>\n

She is the daughter of LaSonya and Howard Hall and she has a brother, DeVante Stredic.<\/p>\n

In working on her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees since 2013, she earned Presidential Honors. A painting of hers was featured in a University of New Mexico magazine. She wants to combine her degrees with her art background to drive a message of eco-sensitivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to basically combine the knowledge from my degree with art and modern technology to better appeal to millennials on matters of conservation. Since most have a passion for video games, that\u2019s probably the best media to appeal to people. Our planet is dying, and we need to do something about it.<\/p>\n

Despite the issues she faced as a student, there are aspects of her time in Stephenville that Tyairra remembers fondly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will miss the open culture, the purple pancakes at homecoming \u2014 just, in general, being able to go around the campus with my friends. And the football games.\u201d<\/p>\n

You bet she\u2019ll miss Tarleton.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where she learned perseverance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyairra Stredic understands never quit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

She hopes Tarleton State University summer graduates and their guests will better appreciate the concept after her commencement address at 9 a.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium on the Stephenville campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[424,425],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-events","category-campus-community"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-74-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Arts & Events<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Arts & Events<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 4, 2021","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 4, 2021 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025 3:51 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Smiling person wearing glasses and a blue shirt, sitting outdoors.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53778,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25358\/revisions\/53778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}