Two newly minted Troy University graduates are stretching a family legacy to four generations.

Mary Zedler and her daughter Kate graduated in Spring Commencement Exercises in Trojan Arena on Thursday.

For Mary, the path was a long one. She had begun her undergraduate degree in criminal justice at the University of South Alabama but stopped college to raise a family which eventually would include two other daughters – one now a high school senior; the other, a high school freshman.

“When (Kate) got to TROY, I said, ‘I think I want to do what she’s doing’ and I went back online,” she said.

Meanwhile Kate, who earned a bachelor’s degree in theater education, was experiencing somewhat of a role reversal.

“I was constantly, ‘Mom, have you done your homework yet?’ The 18 years of hearing ‘do your homework’ and suddenly I was the one who got to do it,” she said.

Kate was able to complete her College of Education and Behavioral Sciences internship with her own theater teacher from middle school, and said the experience was like no other.

“It was wonderfully eye-opening for her to show me what she did to make me learn and get excited about theater,” she said. Her next move is to participate in the Disney College program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. She plans to teach theater in middle and high school thereafter.

Mary said she drew inspiration from her parents, both TROY alums and both schoolteachers, as was her grandmother.

“My mother completed her doctorate in education with two children at home. If she could do, I thought I could too,” she said.

Although her degree is in criminal justice, she works with special education students at schools in her home of Saraland. She plans to pursue certification in special education and be a teacher as well.