When Sontonia Browner was an infant her mother was told she wouldn’t live to be 16. She had been born with congenital heart disease.
“As a baby, I had open heart surgeries. I used to cry to my mom, I was like, ‘I’m not normal. I just want to be normal. I don’t like my body. I don’t like my scars,’” she said.
Health problems, combined with a learning disability, made her early years in school difficult. Placed in special education classes, some teachers advised her mother to not push Browner to get a diploma, that she should get a high school certificate. Those are given to students who attended high school but did not meet the requirements of a diploma.
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But Browner did not want a job, she wanted a career. And she had a secret weapon. Her family.
“My mom was like ‘No, I want my daughter to have an opportunity, to have a career,’” she said. “She really pushed through for me. She was the voice when I didn’t have a voice. My grandparents they, my dad’s parents, there are some praying people. They believed in me.”
The support and perseverance brought her from Elberton to Augusta University’s campus at age 28.
“Even though I was older, I want that college experience. So, I decided on Augusta University and I saw the majors that were they offering in social work one on one,” she said. “I want to be the voice of people that have learning disabilities, or any type of disability or any type of conditions.
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At Augusta University, she found the support she didn’t have in school. Professors stepped forward to help her get through difficult times.
“For example, my junior year when I had to apply for social work and Miss Penny Alderman saw my potential,” she said. “She told me ‘I see your opportunity to become a social worker, we’ll allow you to be in a program, but you have to split your classes up.’ She sees what’s in my best interest because she didn’t want me to be overwhelmed.”
Four years later, the ultimate “nontraditional” student at age 32, she’s preparing for her graduation ceremony on Friday.
“People in society put people like in a box. They feel like well, they have disability, they’re not really capable of anything, but I am capable. Yes, it’s a part of me. I have to live with it. But it doesn’t define who I am as a person,” she said.
Browner has one scar she no longer tries to hide. She had a tracheotomy, a scar she used to hide with turtlenecks. Her grandmother, a photographer, asked why, the scar was nothing to be ashamed of.
“’God made you like this, you are our miracle child, you are a blessing’ and that brought up my self-esteem because she said that one little thing like. I’m a miracle and should be happy who you are,” Browner said.
Her mother will be in Augusta on Friday to watch her miracle child reach a goal she always believed Sontonio would reach.
The Friday ceremony for 711 undergraduates will be in two groups. Graduates from the College of Education, College of Science & Mathematics, Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences and the School of Computer & Cyber Sciences will begin at 10 a.m.
Graduations for the College of Nursing, College of Allied Health Sciences and Hull College of Business will begin at 2 p.m.
Both of those events are at Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
