ULM Senior graduates in two years following multiple health problems

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - One ULM student who is participating in the virtual graduation ceremony is doing so in just half the time. Graduating senior Cam Studer has earned his Bachelor’s in History in just two years, but his story doesn’t start here.

“Any answer starts with asking the right questions,” Cam said confidently, and he knows this to be more than true. “You gotta be creative and you gotta be determined” he added intently.

While Cam’s mother was pregnant with him, his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and choked him whenever she had contractions. because of that, he suffered a stroke the day he was born that left him with little mobility in his left side.

He was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 7-years-old, but not even that stopped the twenty-year-old from living his best quality of life.

“Well I’ve always been like this so it’s always been my normal so when I wanted to do something, I found a way to do it. I worked, I thought of different ways to do it and I have a very supportive family to help me,” Cam said with a smile.

His academic journey doesn’t stop when he reaches the other side of that stage.

“Well, after I get my Bachelor’s in History tomorrow I’m taking another semester at ULM where I’m getting my Bachelor’s in Political Science, and then I’m going off to law school” Cam mentioned. He went on to add that he’ll be applying to LSU and Mississippi College.

He credits time management and setting goals for much of his success.

Cam said, “Well, the first thing is I set goals for myself; most people just accept, and they don’t think about what they can accomplish; they think about what they are not what they can become, and I learned to think about what I can become and what I can be better at instead of just accepting what I’m bad at so I can get better at things.”

Cam also has a message to others who may be struggling.

“People are more than what they are; they are what they can become if they truly work on it and when you set goals for yourself. You make the impossible possible, a little bit easier to imagine. You make the world a better place. You don’t wait for things to happen to you.”

ULM’s commencement ceremonies begin Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

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