Margaret Mitchell

Margarett Mitchell, a Cypress Senior, has returned to complete her final year at SFA despite considerable odds.

Mitchell, a communications major with an emphasis in public relations and a marketing minor, was forced to drop all but one of her classes last school year after an unexpected injury curtailed her semester and led her to remain in school for an extra year.

The injury, which occurred after a dancing accident in March, over spring break, resulted in a broken leg. Mitchell wore a hard cast for six weeks while recuperating in Houston.

Despite the time and difficulties of recovery, there was at least one silver-lined cloud. Thanks to the help of a leopard-print cast cover purchased from a specialty website, Mitchell cites the cast as one of the fashionable perks of her injury.

When asked more seriously what she took from the ordeal, Mitchell said “Something that has really struck true to me is to listen to yourself, to that inner voice, because it usually is right. Sometimes you can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes. And the older you get, the more you learn to listen to yourself, that tiny voice.”

Perhaps a hard lesson to learn, but Mitchell has taken it in stride. She has returned to school and a normal life. She has a part time job working for a local doctor and now lives with her sister, an SFA freshman, in Nacogdoches.

But not content to rest, Mitchell has high hopes for the current semester, as well as her future. Though she has always been successful as a student, Mitchell said this semester would be different because she will apply herself more than she has previously.

“I really want to excel in my classes in a way that I haven’t in the past, and have all of my attention focused.”

After graduating in May, Mitchell is not positive what direction her career will take her. She may work for her father’s oilrig company, a job that would allow her a large amount of travel. She also has long term plans to follow a public relations career, which would allow her to pursue her interest in being an event planner.

Coming back from a dehabilitating injury and taking on an eighteen hour class load, it is clear Mitchell is capable of accomplishing what she sets her mind to.

“I want to prove to myself I can be responsible.” It seems, given the year and adversity she has overcome, that Mitchell is already most of the way to her goal.