7 minute read
The Power of Positivity
BY DONNA BIRCH TRAHAN
Alumna Carol Barr has battled homelessness, two bouts with cancer and a brain aneurysm, but through it all, she never gave up.
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Carol Barr’s journey to obtain her college degree was a long and winding road.
Last May, the 63-year-old Air Force veteran proudly walked the stage during Stanislaus State’s commencement after earning her bachelor’s degree in theatre arts.
But anyone who saw her that day wouldn’t be able to tell that Barr had undergone brain surgery just several weeks prior. In midMarch 2022, Barr experienced a partial seizure, which revealed a brain aneurysm. Doctors promptly scheduled her surgery.
“My aneurysm was repaired, and I came home and finished my semester,” she said.
Facing what seems like insurmountable challenges is second nature to Barr, a two-time cancer survivor.
“I’m a member of a cancer support group here in town, and we call ourselves warriors,” Barr said. “It fit. Everything fit. I am a Warrior, and it was important for me to continue going to the support group. It was important for them to know that you can get up when you’ve been knocked down. Get up. Always get up and continue.”
The Odyssey Begins
Originally from Prunedale, a rural community in Monterey County, Barr was born into a single-parent household. Her mother’s family shunned her because she was half-Mexican. Barr dropped out of middle school and at age 15 her mother abandoned her, leaving her homeless and a “child of the streets” for two years.
Determined to change the course of her life, Barr joined the U.S. Air Force. But first, she had to get her GED. So, she enrolled at Modesto Junior College and successfully completed the coursework.
By then, she was 17 years old and legally still a minor. To join the Air Force, she needed parental consent. Barr tracked down her mother and had her sign the required paperwork. She had served for several years when she got pregnant with her daughter, Virginia. The birth was difficult, which led the single mother to leave the Air Force. Her daughter’s arrival got Barr thinking about Virginia’s future and how she would benefit from a formal education. She wanted Virginia to go to college and told her that routinely throughout the years.
“So, I did,” Virginia said.
Virginia enrolled at Stanislaus State as an English major. During her first year, the unthinkable happened to her mother: While crossing the street in a marked crosswalk, a drunk driver hit Barr. The trauma team treating her thought that she would never recover from the traumatic brain injury she sustained. Fortunately, they were wrong.
But a year later, while still recovering from the car accident, Barr received her first cancer diagnosis. Again, she began medical treatment that proved to be successful. Barr remained cancerfree for more than a decade until it returned in 2013.
Barr’s doctors diagnosed her with stage 3C metastatic breast cancer, and they implied that the prognosis wasn’t good.
“They told us to get her affairs in order,” Virginia recalled. “Instead, she fought.”
Barr did what she always does in the face of adversity: she developed a plan. Barr, who lived in Sacramento at the time, chose to move in with Virginia, who by this time was a Stan State alumna and working as a teacher at Turlock High School.
“Virginia came and got me, and the odyssey began,” Barr said.
During their drive to Turlock, the duo stopped at a McDonald’s where they made a bucket list of all the things Barr wanted to accomplish. The last item on the list read “get an education.” Before, that was what she wanted for her daughter. Now, she wanted it for herself.
Barr underwent aggressive treatment that involved surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. It took more than a year for her to feel well enough to move around.
In 2017, exactly four years to the day after receiving her second cancer diagnosis — Barr celebrated her continued road to recovery by enrolling at Modesto Junior College. Her plan was to transfer to Stan State, her daughter’s alma mater.
“Stan State was a good fit for me because I knew it was a close-knit campus,” Barr said. “It was safe, the campus is beautiful and it was familiar to me because my daughter received her degree there. I wanted to continue the family thing.”
Virginia supported her mother along the way.
“She was my guide to everything I needed to do or understand,” Barr said.
When it was time to choose a major, Barr chose theatre arts, inspired by her early years with Virginia.
“As a single parent, I didn’t have a lot of money, so I read to her and we used our imagination,” Barr said. While reading stories, they took on the characters’ personas. After earning enough credits to transfer, Barr applied to Stan State and was accepted.
By the time she began her matriculation at the University, the world was entrenched in the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“I attended at a difficult time, because of COVID, and it was an experience no one ever had before,” Barr said. “I felt like everyone — students, staff and faculty — was in the same boat, and we all were sharing the same trauma.”
Studying aspects of theatre arts virtually proved to be a unique challenge.
“With my daughter being a teacher, I understood the difficulties instructors faced,” Barr said. “Learning acting on Zoom is difficult. Learning about theatrical makeup on Zoom is difficult. But we all made the best of it,” Barr said. “We did the best we could with what we had.”
She credits Stan State faculty members for their care and commitment to making remote learning an engaging and valuable experience for students.
“I took online classes with Jack Souza and John Mayer, who were terrific instructors. Jack was patient and he listened. He really brought out our creativity. And I adored working with Greg Jacquay.”
Barr was beyond excited when she and her peers were temporarily allowed to come to campus during spring 2021 for the production “Antigone X,” a play that was recorded and streamed online.
In fall 2021, when students were able to return to in-person instruction, Barr landed the role of assistant stage manager for the musical “Head Over Heels,” which was the Theatre Department’s first live production since the pandemic started.
“That first show brought everybody together, and we were able to share this energy that we all missed,” Barr said. “It was an informing and eye-opening view of what goes on backstage. I was unfamiliar with just how much it takes to stage a production. It’s truly a collaboration.”
During her time at Stan State, Barr also got an opportunity to do voice over work for KCSS, the University’s radio station. Listeners can still hear Barr’s voice introducing the station’s call letters.
“I want to continue doing voice overs,” Barr said. “That’s my goal. It’s something I’m comfortable with and can achieve.”
After everything she’s been through, Barr continues to be a persistent and proud Warrior.
