August 2018-The heat at Fort Bliss, Texas, is nothing unusual. The training exercise should have been just as routine. U.S. Army Specialist Demarcus Davis—who had first enrolled in college but traded his textbooks for fatigues at the end of his freshman year after learning he was going to be a father - was now serving in the 6th Field Artillery Regiment. The transition from student to soldier had been challenging but rewarding.
He still remembers fragments of that day: the roar of the Humvee’s engine, the sharp smell of hot metal, the grit of dust in the air. Then came the sudden lurch, the sickening tilt, and the world turning over. When the vehicle landed, Davis climbed out, unsteady, telling his NCOs he felt lightheaded. Moments later, darkness swallowed everything. Demarcus woke up in a hospital five days later. The rollover left him with injuries so severe he would have to relearn how to walk.
In May 2020, Davis welcomed his second child, a baby girl. By then, the injuries from that August day had already set in motion a chain of events that would end with his medical retirement from the Army later that year.
Back in Alabama, still recovering, Davis decided to finish his degree at UAB. Enrolling as a veteran is often a slow, paperwork-heavy process, but meeting Demetrius Pearson and Annie Sellers in UAB Veterans Services changed that.
“They had me ready to start classes in two weeks,” Davis said, still sounding a little surprised. “It was supposed to be this long, grueling process. But they know how to get it done.”
Even so, the hardest part was still ahead. Balancing classes, health issues, work, and parenting pushed him to the brink.
“I was ready to drop out,” he admitted. “But everyone at UAB stepped up and helped me get through. It wasn’t easy, but UAB had my back the whole way.”
That help came in many forms - faculty who listened when he was at his lowest, staff who connected him to resources, and accommodations that allowed him to make up tests after seizures sent him back to the hospital. Small gestures - extended deadlines, a seat saved in a crowded lecture hall - made a big difference.
“I wouldn’t have made it without UAB’s sense of community and the people who genuinely care,” Davis said.
At UAB, minimizing barriers meant he never had to choose between his health and his education, or between being a father and a successful student. Every service, every conversation, every act of understanding nudged him forward.
Removing barriers for students isn't just about policies, programs, and services; it’s also about relationships. Sometimes the thing a student needs most is to know they don’t have to face life’s worst moments alone.
August 2025—It’s just as hot in Birmingham as it was in El Paso that day, but Davis is no longer in uniform, yet he’s well-equipped for the future because he has completed not one but two degrees. Sporting cap and gown, steady and walking on his own, Davis crossed the stage to receive his MBA - that graduate degree he’d never considered.
Student Affairs is grateful to have played a part in Davis’s story and we celebrate—not only his resilience and the future he’s built, but that his son and daughter have their dad to walk beside them as they build theirs.