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Graduate makes it to commencement in nick of timeBy Barbara Brown It wasnít an iffy grade on a final exam or a question of whether he had completed enough credits that worried Holsworth. It was making it to the ceremony before his name was called that caused him to worry. Holsworth is one of many students at Rice Lake and throughout the country that give one weekend a month and two weeks each summer as members of the Army Reserve. For the past three and a half years, Holsworth was not too concerned that his unit would be called to active duty. That changed in early February this year. Bonnie and Chuck Holsworth adopted Matt when he was just 7 years old. Growing up, the family soon realized that Matt had attention deficit disorder, which made school difficult. He was easily distracted and needed more guidance on some things than the Holsworthís other two children. However, once high school came around, Holsworth was much like any other teenage boy in North Branch. Matt, however, may have enjoyed senior year a little too much. As he reflects now, he recognizes that he was a little out of control and that he needed to get himself straightened out. Of course, that revelation wasnít so obvious when he left his parents house just before graduation, got a job and got his own apartment. After graduating from NBHS in 1997, Holsworth went to the University of Wisconsin, Stout, for one year. His wild ways seemed to follow him and he left school for a year to reorganize his life. Thatís when Holsworthís parents, Chuck and Bonnie Holsworth, sat him down to help hash out options for his future. ìI knew I needed to get my life in order,î Holsworth said. ìHe decided on the Army,î said Chuck Holsworth, ìand itís been a great decision for him.î After boot camp in Ft. Knox, Ken., Holsworth returned to school; with a short stint at a technical school in Eau Claire for mechanical drafting and finally as an architectural commercial design student at WITC in August 2001. The small class sizes and individual attention he received helped Holsworth form a close bond with a teacher who would later become integral in his graduation. Holsworth got a job with United Parcel Service (UPS) and was promoted to supervisor by the end of January, 2003. Everything seemed to be in order, Bonnie Holsworth said. ìEverything was falling into place and everything was going well for him,î she said. ìAnd then February came.î Half of Holsworthís unit out of Eau Claire was deployed to Kuwait. Thatís when the nervousness came into the picture for Holsworthís parents. Later in the month, the rest of the unit was assured they probably would not be needed overseas and the family started to relax again. Thatís when Holsworth got a call that he was being transferred from the Eau Claire unit to one in Bay City, Mich., where another soldier apparently went absent without leave (AWOL). Holsworth is in personnel administration and his name was selected to fill the spot. While Holsworthís Eau Claire unit was secure in thinking they would not be called up, the Bay City unit was. The unit was deployed to Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin for pre-deployment classes, which last about a month. After all, it was Holsworthís senior year and his last classes were on the line. The school was accommodating beyond what the Holsworth family expected, Chuck Holsworth said. ìThey were just great,î he said. ìThey told us they would accept work from him whenever he could get it in. Sometime in April, supplies and gear for Holsworthís Michigan unit were loaded and shipped to Kuwait. ìThatís when we thought this was real,î Bonnie Holsworth said. ìWe just knew that when the supplies went, he was going to go too.î Not so, however. The Michigan unit was not deployed after all and with the declaration by President George W. Bush that the military operation in Iraq had been successful, Holsworth and the other soldiers were ready to go home. The message that he could go came just in the nick of time. Graduation ceremonies for Holsworthís program were scheduled for May 9 at 7 p.m. Holsworthís unit had to return to Bay City before being allowed to go on their its way. The unit now included Holsworth, so he had no choice but to join the other soldiers on the 12-hour bus ride back to Michigan. The bus arrived in Michigan at 1 a.m. and Holsworth got a couple hours sleep before his 9:30 a.m. flight to Detroit. From Detroit, Holsworth was supposed to get the 2 p.m. flight to Minneapolis. That would have put him in Rice Lake in plenty of time for graduation. But, when travelers are dealing with planes, anything can happen. For some reason, Holsworth said, the flight from Detroit to Minneapolis was delayed 3 hours, pushing the entire schedule back. He finally arrived at the airport in Minneapolis at 5 p.m., and his dad was there waiting. At 5:30 p.m., as the family pulled out of the parking lot, Holsworth phoned his teacher, Deb Kutrieb and told her what had happened. Kutrieb arranged to have someone meet Matt and his parents at the entrance to the gymnasium where graduation was held with his cap and gown. As the family pulled in front of the building, the clock in the car was showing 7:30 p.m. They ran to the front door and found a woman standing with the cap and gown. Matt dressed quickly and was taken to his seat, just a couple of minutes before his name was called. Still exhausted from his day in the air and on the road, still reeling from the past few months, Matt gladly accepted his diploma ñ in person and on time. ìIt was just such a feeling of relief,î he said. Kutrieb said Matt was consistently trying to improve himself and do things better when he was a student at WITC. ìYou gotta hand it to him for persistence,î she said. ìHe stuck with it, and then he goes into the Army. ì[The Army] helped him prioritize things. He became a leader in classroom. And then the very thing that helped him do that was dragging him away two months before graduation.î She said when Matt finally walked into the room to receive his diploma, the other students ìwere just thrilled to see him there.î ìIt was a long road for him,î Bonnie Holsworth said. ìWe are just so proud of him. Heís really got his life together.î Shortly after graduation, Chuck Holsworth received a phone call from one of Mattís sergeants. ìHe told us our son had done a great job and that they were glad to have him around. ìThat was one of the best calls Iíve gotten. I was so proud to hear those things about him.î ©ECM Post Review |