Graduating on Her Time

When Tonya Henderson Gatling steps onstage to address the crowd as student speaker at this spring’s commencement, she’ll cap off a journey to an NC State degree that began more than 30 years ago, in 1994.

That fall, Gatling arrived on campus as a first-year student in the College of Engineering. She’d planned to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., to study forensic chemistry and follow in the footsteps of her aunt, who worked as a forensic chemist at the Pentagon. But her mom persuaded her to apply to NC State, where she could stay closer to their home in Durham.

“It was the best decision my mother ever made for me,” she said.

Gatling was unsure what to expect at NC State, despite growing up close by. She found a much livelier campus than she’d imagined, one brimming with people and activities. The campus, she discovered, was “like a microcosm of the world and how we interact with each other.”

“I quickly began to meet people from all different walks of life,” she said. “I learned to understand people who are very different from me, and how to communicate across cultural barriers, language barriers and economic barriers.”

I found my identity by being involved with those groups on NC State’s campus.

Gatling also discovered communities where she could connect with people who shared her interests. She joined New Horizons Choir, an ensemble that performed Gospel spirituals and music by Black composers. And she became a leader on the Black Students Board, helping to plan fundraisers and events, including the Pan-Afrikan Festival, a weeklong celebration of Pan-Africanism featuring food, entertainment and educational activities.

“I found my identity by being involved with those groups on NC State’s campus,” she said.

She did not find her identity as an engineer, however, and Gatling left NC State in 1998 without securing her engineering degree. Instead, she embraced a career in project management, where the growth she experienced on campus empowered her to excel.

“If you know anything about project management, there is a life cycle that you have to execute within,” she said. “I learned that life cycle from being in New Horizons Choir and on the Black Students Board, from people like Ron Foreman, who’s still at NC State. Planning those events, dealing with budgeting, dealing with outside vendors — all those things helped me to find my vocation.”

Finishing What She Started

Gatling made steady progress in her career, and now works in the insurance industry as a senior technology program manager. But the thought of earning her degree never left her mind.

“When I left NC State in ‘98, I left with the plan to one day do distance learning,” she said.

During her years as an engineering student, Gatling met the man she would later marry, George Gatling II, although they didn’t get together at the time. They reconnected more than 20 years later, and soon began dating. On a trip back to campus in 2020, her husband-to-be inspired her to go after her goal.

“We hadn’t yet gotten engaged, we were still just dating,” Gatling said. “We got to the Belltower, he turned me around and he was like, ‘You will finish, and I will help you. You are too smart to not have your degree.’”

The idea simmered in her mind. She looked for a program that would give her the flexibility to pursue her studies while juggling her career — a program that could amplify her natural qualities as a leader. Finally, in 2024, she pinpointed the perfect degree: leadership in the public sector (LPS), an online program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Her husband nudged her again: “Make the call.” Gatling picked up the phone and connected with LaShica Waters, Ph.D., program advisor for LPS.

“By the time I got off the phone with her, I had a two-year path to a degree laid out before me,” she said. “And I’ve stuck with it.”

I’m not graduating late. I’m graduating on my time. Never count yourself out.

Now, with graduation in her sights, Gatling says the LPS program has expanded her capacity to lead others, recognize their core strengths and “build the right team to tackle any project” in the workplace.

“I love that this program gave me remote control of my education and future,” she said. “It’s a program that’s all about leading with a servant’s heart. And it put the seasoning on everything I’d learned to do in my career.”

Gatling plans to eventually pursue her master’s in business leadership. She’s honored to be the student speaker at commencement on May 9, where she’ll remind her fellow graduates to live life on their own terms.

“I’m not graduating late,” she said. “I’m graduating on my time. Never count yourself out.”