Adult learner returns to RIT and completes her bachelor’s degree thanks to the Roar to the Finish program

Rochester, New York – After more than a decade of navigating life’s unexpected turns, Sarah Collins finally walked across the stage and accepted her bachelor’s degree from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The moment marked the culmination of a long and winding journey that began in 2009, was derailed by a personal mental health crisis, and was rekindled thanks to a unique initiative at RIT called Roar to the Finish.

The degree completion program, part of RIT’s School of Individualized Study (SOIS), is designed specifically for students like Collins—those who once stepped away from their education, but never fully let go of the dream of finishing it. On May 9, Collins achieved what once felt impossible.

“I knew that going back to school as an adult learner would be challenging,” but I was ready for it,” Collins said. “And I built momentum.”

Now a senior technical copywriter and published poet, Collins didn’t expect to return to RIT after all these years. But a professional connection turned into a personal breakthrough. While working at Partners & Napier, a Rochester-based advertising agency, she became involved with The Napier Leadership Experience—a fellowship program for SOIS students founded by RIT alumna and agency founder Sharon Napier.

Collins leads a storytelling workshop as part of the daylong experience and, over time, got to know the fellows who passed through the program. Their stories, aspirations, and multi-disciplinary interests mirrored her own. That familiarity sparked something inside her—a realization that she didn’t have to let her unfinished degree stay unfinished.

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“I saw myself in many of the students, and I could relate to the tension of knowing where you want to go with your career and figuring out how to get there,” she explained. “SOIS filled that gap for me, and I received so much encouragement from everyone.”

Encouraged by the SOIS community and guided by staff like James Hall, dean of University Studies and executive director of SOIS, and Sydney Wyse, assistant director of non-traditional student outreach, Collins enrolled in the program in January 2023. From there, the pieces began to fall into place.

Launched in 2016, Roar to the Finish is RIT’s formal answer to a question that many institutions have struggled with: how can colleges help former students complete their education? According to Wyse, RIT is among a small group of private universities with such a structured and supportive re-entry pathway.

Since its creation, the initiative has helped nearly 150 students return to RIT and finish what they started. Some come back after seven years, others after 30. All are united by a shared desire to close a chapter left open.

“The reality is we want students to earn their RIT degree and become active alumni,” said Hall. “That’s really important, especially when students have invested so much time and money into the university without a degree to show for it or the benefits the credential can provide them.”

For many potential returnees, it all starts with an email. Wyse identifies students who left RIT in good standing by combing through institutional records and cross-referencing with the registrar and analytics teams. She then reaches out, planting a seed that may take years to grow.

“I’m still getting emails from students I contacted in 2018 and 2019, and who saved my email because they weren’t ready,” Wyse said. “Or, sometimes students will reply right away and the conversation drops off until they revisit it again.”

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That sense of patience and personalized care made a difference for Collins. She had initially started a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design, but returning to that same track years later was impractical. The field had evolved, and so had she. Now more established in a writing career, she needed a new academic path—one that acknowledged her past work but aligned with her present goals.

Wyse helped map out a plan using a general Bachelor of Science track. It was efficient, cost-effective, and, perhaps most importantly, achievable.

With the support of SOIS, Collins hit the ground running. She not only completed her coursework but re-immersed herself in the university community. Already familiar with the Napier Fellows through her employer, she deepened her ties as a student and, more recently, as a mentor.

Now, as a freshly minted RIT alumna, Collins is wasting no time giving back. She’s already begun appearing in classrooms as a guest speaker, sharing advice on how students can craft their personal brands and establish an online presence in today’s digital world.

“Talk about coming full circle at RIT and how beautiful that is,” Collins said. “I’m also still in touch with many of the Napier Fellows from previous years through LinkedIn. It’s really important to have that sense of continuity in community.”

Collins’s story underscores the heart of what Roar to the Finish aims to do: not just provide a path back to education, but create a space where adult learners can reconnect with their ambitions and reimagine their futures.

Her journey—from crisis to completion—is not a tale of instant redemption, but one of perseverance, reinvention, and rediscovery. It’s also a testament to the power of empathy and design in higher education—an understanding that not every journey follows a straight line, and that it’s never too late to finish what you started.

“I knew that going back to school as an adult learner would be challenging,” Collins said. “But I was ready for it. And I built momentum.”

And on May 9, that momentum carried her across the finish line.