Commencement Not the Only Thing on Graduation Candidate's Mind on Saturday

For the last three years, 21-year-old Samantha Perez has been running track for UTSA, and that track career will come to a close on Saturday at the Southland Conference Championships at the University of Texas at Arlington. Unfortunately, for her, it's also the day she will be walking the stage to pick up her diploma as an english major candidate for graduation in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

Perez was scheduled to graduate at 4 p.m but it would not give her enough time to get to the track meet and compete in the 10 k run Saturday night. With this dilemma confronting them, university officials agreed to let Perez participate in the 9 a.m. ceremony so she would have plenty of time to get to the meet.

Perez says she has known about the conflict for several months now and decided she would concentrate on finishing her track career in style and then deal with the time problem at a later date.

"I knew I would have to make a decision, at one point I thought about skipping the commencement ceremony because I wanted to run a good 10 k in my last race. I am glad that I will now have the opportunity to do both," said Perez.

There will be little rest after this weekend for Perez as well. She plans to get married in June and move to Australia, the home of her fiance Timothy Wallace, who also ran track for UTSA.

Perez hopes to go to graduate school and get a master's degree in English. After graduate school, she looks to start a career in public relations.