Saturday, Moore, 50, will be the first person to graduate from Southern Oregon University's three-year accelerated baccalaureate program. She worked as a secretary and raised three children before returning to school.

"There's a real feeling of accomplishment in earning something I really thought was out of reach for me," said Moore, a human communication major.

Moore will be one of 578 SOU students participating in Saturday's graduation ceremony. More than 1,000 students earned degrees this year at SOU.

The ceremony is set from 9 a.m. to noon at Lithia Park.

SOU is one of the few universities in the nation to offer the three-year program. It allows students to complete degrees in a shorter amount of time, and students can get credit for work experience.

This wasn't Moore's first attempt at college. After high school, she enrolled in a California college but was overwhelmed and dropped out the first semester. She was the first in her family to attend college.

"I felt lost on campus," she said.

She spent a year at a business college, then went to work as a secretary, putting her husband through school and raising her children, who are all now in their 20s. Along the way she got divorced and remarried, but never felt she could afford to go back to school.

She was working as an executive secretary for the city of Ashland when she began having dreams in which she was begging her children to go to college.

"I began to realize it wasn't about them, but me," she said. "I realized without my degree I was always feeling less than."

On the advice of Mayor Cathy Shaw, Moore attended a self-development course in 1995.

"I came out of it feeling I had a lot of qualities reaffirmed and knowing I was the writer of my own script," she said. "I could choose anything.

"And I realized I wanted to do more than be the behind-the-scenes person at the city."

She read about the three-year program at SOU, and with the support of her husband, quit work. Moore was able to waive many general education requirements because of her work experience. For example, her work with the city fulfilled political-science requirements.

While at SOU, Moore helped organize the university's relationships conference, worked as a teacher's aide and was assistant coordinator for the first Southern Oregon Women in Higher Education Conference.

She even took a couple classes with her daughter, Samantha Johnson.

"It was kind of fun," Johnson said."I'm not good at math but my mom was terrified. I had to calm her down and say, `You can do it."'

Moore said her husband Tony never wavered in his belief that she could get her degree -- even when she thought she couldn't go on and when he had to do more than his share around the house.

"I'd say, `I can't vacuum. I can't get dinner,"' she said. "He would say `Don't worry. Just do your job of going to school.'

"He took on the full load."

Tony Moore, though, said he made no sacrifices. They simply have a partnership.

"I was tired of seeing her wasting her time in a job that was going nowhere," he said. "I knew she had more potential -- she just needed a release for it -- and you can see that in her grades."

Moore earned a 3.8 grade-point average and expects to go on to a job helping teens or college students. Her strongest interest is in teaching conflict resolution to teenagers.

She gets nearly weepy when she thinks about finally accepting her diploma on Saturday.