Brian McGauley dropped out of high school and college and had two health scares. Carlos Torres worked too hard, partied too hard and was academically disqualified. Now, both students are graduating with honors from the Craig School of Business at Fresno State, proving that a late start and early difficulties don’t have to be permanent barriers to long-term success.

McGauley, a computer information systems major, is graduating summa cum laude. Torres, an accountancy major, is graduating magna cum laude. Both students are winners of this year’s Craig Inspiration Awards, which are given to graduating seniors who have overcome significant challenges and difficulties in pursuit of a college degree.

“These students are inspirations to their classmates because they demonstrate that recovering from setbacks is more important than trying to be perfect,” said Dr. Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, dean of the Craig School. “Challenges are inevitable in academics, business and life. We try to teach our students that recovering, learning and adapting from these challenges are essential skills for success. Brian and Carlos exemplify the Craig spirit of continuous transformation and improvement.”

‘You have to put school ahead in order to get ahead in school’

For McGauley, completing his education and pursuing success meant not giving up on a commitment to himself.

“It really comes down to a promise I made myself once I got accepted to college, that I was going to hold myself to complete it,” McGauley said. “It’s really about not compromising on that. The second you start compromising, the second you say ‘I’m really tired, I need a day off, I’m going to take this class off,’ you start slipping. Even if you have to work, you have to put school ahead in order to get ahead in school.”

In earlier days, McGauley didn’t have that focus. Despite earning a full scholarship to college, he got a GED instead of finishing high school. After a bad experience at a junior college in Austin, Texas, he dropped out, and started to think college wasn’t for him.

“I was homeless at the time. I just couldn’t manage, and I decided I was going to have to let this slide,” McGauley said. “I thought, ‘I’ll figure it out later,’ and it took me 13 more years to get back in. I broke a promise to myself, and it feels bad. And that leads to self-esteem issues, especially when you can’t stay true to your own word. I struggled massively with that, and that’s why it took me so long to go back to school.”

McGauley credits his wife with getting him back on track with his education. She suggested they take turns going to college, with one spouse working while the other attended classes..

“Six years ago we decided that we were going to pursue our education, and the only way we could do it was to alternate,” McGauley said. “We were both working, and we didn’t know if we could do college again. We didn’t have high hopes, but we were going to give it a shot.”

McGauley worked night shifts at a gas station to make ends meet while his wife attended Clovis Community College. When she completed her associate’s degree, she told McGauley it was his turn. Just as he was starting college again, he suffered two strokes.

“It’s been a challenge,” McGauley said. “Even now, I have partial vision lost in the center of my vision. The first six months were hardest, because I had to relearn even how to think. But I made that promise to myself. I came out of the hospital. I was lucky, and I wasn’t going to waste my second chance.”

At Clovis Community, McGauley earned associate’s degrees in cybersecurity, information systems and programming before transferring to the computer information systems program at the Craig School. This semester he is not only graduating with his bachelor’s degree, he has already started his first semester in the MBA program and launched his own consulting and creative services company.

“It’s been a ride. I’ve learned a lot,” McGauley said. “It’s been fun. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a very full life. I have no complaints. I don’t think I would have changed anything.”

‘My son was born, and it was the greatest motivation I could ever have’

Torres was literally Bulldog born. His parents were students at Fresno State when he was born, and his first years were spent at Bulldog Village, the apartment complex just across Cedar Avenue from the heart of campus.

“You know what they say, Bulldog born, Bulldog bred,” Torres said. “There was no option for me, I always knew that I was going to come here.”

Torres enrolled at Fresno State immediately after graduating high school, but his first years in college were not a success.

“I was a little bit of a troublemaker, a little irresponsible. Immature would be a good word for that,” Torres said. “I was working a lot more than I was studying, I was drinking a little too much. I might have been an adult on paper, but in real life I was still a kid. I was disqualified from Fresno State — a 0.4 GPA is not going to get you far in life.”

For a few years, Torres was an on-again, off-again student at Clovis Community College while working at a restaurant. He worked hard and played hard, he said, which didn’t help his focus on studies.

Torres found motivation to work hard at school and excel when he and his fiancee Marie had a child.

“My son Joseph was born in August 2023, and I started classes a couple weeks before that, and it was the greatest motivation you could ever have,” Torres said. “I tell everyone that the birth of my son completely changed my life.”

Suddenly, Torres got serious about life. He took accounting classes at Clovis Community and enjoyed them. His years working at restaurants had given him the business background to connect what he learned in the classroom to the world of work. He earned a 4.0 GPA two semesters in a row.

The summer after his son was born, Torres wrote a letter to Fresno State demonstrating that he was showing academic progress and he was readmitted to the university.

At Fresno State, Torres became an active member of Beta Alpha Psi, the honor society for business professionals. He served on the society’s professional development committee and board, organizing office tours and service events for nonprofit organizations.

“I attended every Beta Alpha Psi meeting. I was hooked,” Torres said. “I was at all the office tours, I began meeting professional accountants, I finally saw that if I really applied myself, that I could become a professional accountant, that there was a future for me. I started applying for internships that same fall.”

A successful internship with a professional accounting firm led to a job offer. Now that Torres is graduating, he is pursuing a CPA license. He and Marie are getting married in August, and he will start work at his new job in September. Torres wants to continue his education and pursue a law degree.

“I’m evidence that anything is possible,” Torres said. “A former addict, dropout, fail-out, somebody who never knew what they were going to do, humbled and kicked down by my own doing. But I was able to come back, and I’m ready to give it every single ounce I’ve got to make my dreams come true.”