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Like many ���۴�ý (UOPX) alumni, Bruce had a few false starts before landing in the right program. He didn’t have the guidance or motivation to start college after high school, he says. But when a previous employer nudged him toward community college, Bruce enrolled in a computer-aided design course and found that not only could he complete the work, he actually liked it.

Life is about more than work and school, however. For Bruce, a big source of joy and motivation is the family he’s built. He and his wife met through a religious dating app, and from the outset, everything just clicked. Their birthdays are one day apart. Their daughter was born exactly three years after their first phone call. “With my wife, everything feels like a fairy tale,” Bruce says.

While his marriage can be described as storybook, the job he took upon moving to Wisconsin (to be closer to his now wife) was more of a bad dream. Bruce was working as a technical writer, and he hated it.

“The job that I was in was just a dead end,” Bruce says. “I could see it from the second day I was there.”

Adversity, however, makes us stronger. In Bruce’s case, that meant rethinking his future. He had heard good things about ���۴�ý and started looking into earning his associate degree.

Already in the groove of school, Bruce decided to fully commit again. In January 2020, he started his Bachelor of Science in Information Technology program. But while he had both experience and a related associate degree, the path wasn’t easy. He was juggling a lot, and managing his time effectively meant most hours were spent working in one capacity or another.

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Cybersecurity, he explains, is really about making sure people aren’t making mistakes, and his role has “layers of complexity” in that it combines cybersecurity with auditing. “It’s not a straight line of work,” he says. “It’s multifaceted.”

It’s been a lot. As with any good fairy tale, there’s been a sprinkling of magic mixed in too. Bruce’s mother-in-law stayed with them for months after their son was born so that Bruce and his wife could get their sea legs as parents of two kids. Bruce’s father-in-law (who was working on his third master’s degree himself) checked in regularly. And Peguese made herself available to support him academically.

“I’m here to tell you the support is just incredible [at UOPX],” Bruce says.

“The support I provided was listening,” Peguese demurs. “An open ear can bring clarity to action steps. … My role was to support Jacob in the space he was in and encourage academic support. We ended up making a wonderful friendship [in the process].”

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It was an experience Bruce has a hard time describing even today. Part of that may be because Peguese’s support and friendship surprised even him.

A few days after he returned to Wisconsin, a box arrived on his doorstep. It contained a giant frame for his diploma, and it was from Peguese.

“That’s one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me,” Bruce says.

For Peguese, her friendship with Bruce is equally profound. “I am beyond proud of Jacob,” she says. “He is an amazing example of a success story!”

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