Jacksboro native defeats odds to obtain master’s degree

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - After overcoming dyslexia as a child and bouncing back from the tornado that hit Jacksboro March of 2022, Kelsey Weldon will be graduating from Midwestern State University Saturday May, 13. Kelsey will receive a masters degree in school counseling.

“I was retained in first grade and that’s when they first noticed it. Reading, spelling and writing was really a struggle for me. I had a really great elementary dyslexia teacher, Lisa Deweber. She was the sweetest lady that I know. My grandmother I can remember would practice spelling words, she would read me the spelling words and I would say it back to her. I wanted to take the spelling test like everyone else and I didn’t want to be exempt from that” said Kelsey Weldon.

Weldon is a first generation college graduate from MSU in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. She has always had a passion for working at Jacksboro ISD like her mother and grandmother. She has been an instructor at Jacksboro ISD Elementary for four years. After her first year of teaching, she started to pursue her master’s degree in counseling.

One day while working at the school, Weldon had another curve ball thrown at her when the tornado hit Jacksboro. “I was actually at the elementary school the tornado hit the elementary school. My kids were at the daycare across town and my husband was out in the field pumping so I didn’t really know where he was. So, as soon as we knew a tornado was coming my first thought was oh my goodness Kirk was out in the middle of nowhere and he has no idea” said Kelsey Weldon.

The twister left the roof of their home missing and forced them to live in a camper for nine months. After moving the kids back and forth from Kirk’s parents house, they recently were able to move into their new home.

Midwestern State University’s commencement ceremony kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Kay Yeager Coliseum.

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