For the Love of Learning…Burgaw Couple Plans Graduation and Wedding
WILMINGTON – As spring commencement quickly approaches at University of Mount Olive, many graduating students are reflecting on the journeys they have traveled to reach this significant and transforming moment in their lives. Michael Fields and Agnes Dail are two of those students.
Fields and Dail will graduate from University of Mount Olive on Saturday, May 7, and are planning to exchange wedding vows on September 10. The couple met on Match.com.
Dail, who speaks fluent Polish, German, and English, was born in Ruda, Poland. At the age of six, Dail and her family escaped the former communist regime and moved to Germany. After immigrating to the United States in 2002, she began to develop a passion for children’s education. For the past eight years Dail has worked as a preschool teacher at Little Town Learning Center in Burgaw.
Dail completed her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development from Cape Fear Community College in 2008 and enrolled in the Early Childhood Education program at University of Mount Olive at Wilmington one year later.
In explaining why she wanted to obtain her bachelor’s degree, Dail said, “I wanted to set an example for my preschoolers that education is a very important factor in life. I always tell my children that one can never learn and know enough. Learning is a lifelong process and yes, even grown-ups still have a lot to learn.”
For Fields, a native of Brunswick County, working with computers has always been his career dream. He received a degree in computer programming from Brunswick Community College. He works as a telecom tech III at Progress Energy. Wanting to broaden his business acumen, Fields chose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Management and Organizational Development at University of Mount Olive in Wilmington.
The couple had different classes and different majors, but they shared time together studying and traveling to and from school.
“Mike and I are like two different people when it comes to school and studying,” Dail shared. “He never worried about his grades, and in the end he made it through just fine. I, on the other hand, worried that if I made anything lower than an ‘A’, then I would be a failure. Overall, I feel that Mike and I have balanced each other very well during our course of study.”
Fields agreed, “We are looking forward to walking and receiving our degrees together at graduation. It truly is a very special occasion and something we are proud we did as a couple.”
Fields and Dail plan to celebrate their academic achievement with friends and family. Then, it is on to planning for the next big event…the beginning of their lives as husband and wife.
University of Mount Olive will graduate approximately 350 students at its 57th spring Commencement set for Saturday, May 7, at 2:00 PM in Kornegay Arena on the campus of University of Mount Olive.
University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.