Skye Troy is still learning to talk about the hardest times in her life, including being kicked out of high school for doing drugs, and later arrested for stealing credit cards.
The student body president spoke at Washington State University Vancouver’s commencement ceremony, where she received her degree in public affairs.
Now 22 and clean for six years, Troy hopes to go to work as a government relations liaison in the fields of social justice, economic equality and women’s rights. She’s passionate for social reform at the local level, drawing from her own experience growing up in the rural Oklahoma city of Owasso to drive her.
“I had to overcome so many obstacles,” she said.