Hoffman receives Master's Degree

Joyce M. Searson, Publisher

In the Seventies, a lot of young adults, after graduating from high school got married, found a job and started having a family. They were called ‘Baby Boomers.’ And now it seems a lot of these Baby Boomers are late bloomers.

This is the case where Connie Hoffman is concerned. Thirty years later, she has just received her Master's Degree in Business Administration and is an Adjunct Teacher in the Business Department at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in Orangeburg.

Hoffman says, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

She is living proof that it is never too late to start a career and age is definitely not an issue.

Hoffman worked at the Bamberg County Courthouse for years and when she decided to leave, her mother encouraged her to go back to school.

"My mother said that I was the only one of her girls who didn't have a degree. That was all that I needed, just a little push and the fact that I wanted to get a better job . I applied at OC-Tech and the next thing I knew, I was going back to school."

Halfway through her first semester she realized she wanted more than just taking a few classes, she wanted more than just an accounting degree and after graduating in May of 2003, she went on to get her Associates Degree in Arts and Science in August of 2004.

Needless to say, Hoffman was still not ready to stop there. She went on to pursue her Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and then graduated from the University of Phoenix in July of 2010 with a Master's Degree in Business Administration. She went from being a student to tutor and now a teacher at OC-Tech.

Hoffman, an Orangeburg native who graduated from Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School in 1973, married Bamberg native, Collis Hoffman. They lived in Bamberg for 30 years and in 2006 they moved to Orangeburg. They have been married for 36 years and they have four children and four grandchildren.

"I owe it all to God, my husband, my family and I thank OC-Tech for all the support they have given me during the years. My husband , Collis, will be finishing up his Associate Degree in Computer Technology in May 2011. Anything is possible if you want it bad enough. You never know what you can do until you try....The sky is no longer the limit."