NELSON (NEWS1130) – It was 28 years in the making but Sandi Haynes has done it! She has her university degree.  

The Gitxsan First Nation woman graduated while balancing work and raising three children, and for the last ten years, she has worked on her studies while dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

“No matter how bad things appear, there are people who would trade places with us in a heart beat.”

She took several courses per semester at first, initially through the old Open Learning Agency, while working and raising her three children in Smithers, 108 Mile House and ultimately Nelson where the family settled in 1995.
    
Haynes never gave up on her dreams of getting her criminology degree from Simon Fraser University
    
“My degree itself won’t change much in my life, however the process and life lessons that have come along with learning the degree will be with me for the rest of my life.”

Haynes hopes her achievement serves as an inspiration for others who feel that a degree isn’t possible because of their life circumstances.