Hundreds of students turned their tassels at the RBC Center Sunday as they all received degrees or diploma's from Wake Tech.

Of the over 1,000 students who earned a degree, about 400 students attended to the graduation ceremony.

And for one student, the journey took a lot longer than normal -- it took Rhonda Thomason 15 years to graduate.

"I always said I'll be walking with a cane when I cross the stage, but I'm not you can see," she said.

Thomason was determined to get her associates degree, a year after she started working at Wake Tech, she started taking classes.

"If I can do it anybody can, you just have to have a lot of determination," said Thomason.

She also had a lot of support -- the job she loves, loves her back.

"She's one of our most valued employees today," said biology instructor Bill Rhoades.

"She's just a really strong person who's made a commitment to grow professionally and she's really succeeded," said Lee Corbett, head of the associate department.

Rhonda's co-workers said she goes above and beyond at work by staying late, working weekend and even taking her work home with her.

"We have a dean, but we often refer to her as the boss, because she always knows what's going on," said co-worker, Steven Hill.

It wasn't an easy road to get to this point.

Rhonda took the job at Wake Tech 16 years ago after getting laid off.

Her dad died in a car accident and she had to take care of her bed-ridden mother and raise two kids, and now she has two grandkids to look after.

"I'm very excited, I've waited a long, long time and it's taken a lot of determination to get this far," said Thomason.

And she's not done -- she'll start working on getting her second associates. That will be six classes.

"I usually take one class a semester, so it'll be two years,"

And, if another degree is what Rhonda sets her mind to do, you can bet she'll be walking across that stage again in two years.

Rhonda also said she plans to retire from her job at Wake Tech, and she's continuing her education because she can and before now, no one else in her family had before her.

Both her children also graduated from Wake Tech.