The journey was long and difficult for some, but more than 4,000 students from the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University took their final steps this weekend to get their degrees.

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University of North Texas graduate student Melissa Savage, of Katy, waves to her family as she walks to her seat at the start of commencement ceremonies for master’s degree students Friday at the Super Pit.

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After Melissa Savage lost her home to a tornado spawned from Hurricane Ike, the prospects of graduating dimmed for the University of North Texas distance education student.

But the Katy resident took her first steps ever on the Denton campus Friday at the master’s commencement ceremony, walking across the stage upon completion of a two-year master’s degree program in library science.

Savage received her degree after taking most of her classes online and through a live video feed at the University of Houston, which has a partnership with UNT, she said.

When Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast on Sept. 13, Savage and her husband were trying to celebrate their five-year wedding anniversary, but instead they have a new reason to remember that date.

“It wasn’t exactly the kind of romantic evening we had planned; it was scary during the actual event and even harder afterwards,” Savage said.

After the tornado hit their home, it started falling apart, and the couple was forced to live in temporary housing, she said.

Without the computer she used for her classes, Savage had to borrow one. She utilized the resources and space at the public library where she worked full-time; she hunkered in the driveway of her ruined home to get Internet access.

Distance education was ideal for her, she said, because she was able to get her library science degree from a well-known school while living nearly 300 miles away.

Savage isn’t alone.

It took Dr. Doretha Hudspeth, lead counselor for Denton High School, eight years to get her doctorate.

Hudspeth balanced a full-time job with the school district, as well as being the primary caregiver for two of her grandchildren, Dentton, 14, and Hagar, 10, and made it across the stage at Texas Woman’s University on Saturday.

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Linda Stone, left, with the University of North Texas Toulouse School of Graduate Studies helps graduate student Anmarie Garcia with her robe before master’s commencement Friday at the Super Pit.

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“It’s an accomplishment of a lifelong goal I’ve had,” Hudspeth said. “It brings pride to my church, my community and my workplace.”

She said her days often started at 5 a.m., working 50 to 60 hours a week at the high school, taking classes, finishing her dissertation on adoption disruption and caring for her pre-teen and teenage grandchildren until she went to bed at about 1 a.m. to do it all over again.

It didn’t help that she was from the age of the typewriter and everything she did for her doctoral program required the use of newer technology in some form, Hudspeth said.

But it was all worth it.

“I’ve taught at Strickland for 30 years, and already former students say I’m an inspiration to go back and further their education,” Hudspeth said. “It was a goal of mine, but now I see it affecting [many more people].”

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com.