UTC is ‘my happy place,’ graduate says

 

Celena Kirby calls herself an open book. She has a story different from most when she shares why she decided to pursue a career in psychology.

“Oh goodness, I could spend three years telling you that story,” said Kirby, who will be receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology as part of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 11, in McKenzie Arena.

“I’ve been independent since I was 3 years old, since I could walk and talk and get myself around a house. I grew up in a different environment than the average child and saw things in a very different light.”

Kirby was raised in the Nashville area, the only child of a single mom. Her mother has struggled with addiction issues, and her biological father was not in the picture. He, too, has addictions that he’s working through, Kirby said.

It all came to a head when she was 16. Her mom was arrested, sentenced to 10 months in jail.

“That was a turning point for both of us. My whole life was up in arms,” Kirby said. “I was just a sophomore in high school, not really knowing anything. That’s a malleable age, anyway, and that kind of did it for me.

“My mom and I did months of very extensive therapy just to have a relationship. Her therapist at the time … I knew that I wanted to be that person for somebody. I knew that I didn’t want to keep my story silent. There were two different ways you can use it, as a success story or as a sob story, and I wanted to use it as success.”

 

‘Where I learned who I am’

It was the pursuit of telling her success story that led her to Chattanooga. That along with her aunt and uncle, Jennifer and Steven Chaffin, who live here.

The Chaffins grew up in Middle Tennessee before coming to UTC. They both earned bachelor’s degrees in 1998—Jennifer in multidisciplinary school learning and Steven in environmental science: biology—and stayed in Chattanooga after graduation.

While visiting them as a high school senior, Kirby saw UTC and didn’t apply anywhere else.

“I submitted my application. I was accepted. And that was that,” she recalled. “I knew this was where I wanted to be. Chattanooga became home for me. It’s where I grew and where I learned who I am.”

Kirby arrived on campus in the fall of 2018 with an “all-business” mindset and hasn’t looked back. She has taken up to 19 hours each semester and will be graduating in three and a half years.

“Everyone says college is the best four years of your life, but I’m an old soul. I’ve seen enough that I knew I was here and I meant business,” she said. “I got it done early, but not to be done early. It’s just to start the next part sooner.”

She will be working for her aunt and uncle’s real estate investment company while waiting to learn the next chapter in her story.

A psychology degree and real estate don’t sound like they mix, but “in true psychologist’s fashion, I’m going to find a way to use it,” Kirby explained.

“It’s really important to be able to know what people need like location, practicality, school systems, so being able to use my ability to read people and understand them on a different foundational level than just ground level will help me. So there is some intertwine.”

Her plan is to pursue a master’s degree in psychology, and she has been applying to programs at UTC that begin in fall 2022.

“Part of the reason I want to apply (to UTC) for Graduate School is that I don’t want to leave,” she said. “I love this school. I love who’s here. The connections I’ve been able to make with professors and peers are unmatched in my world.

“You often hear that a home isn’t four walls. A home is where you are. This campus, while it has four corners, everything inside of it is home for me. It’s my happy place.”

 

Sharing her success story

Her mom is in recovery now, “and I’m very thankful for that,” Kirby said.

“My success story is living through it and working through it and the knowledge of it,” she said. “Having that brightness of a mom in recovery and is doing great things … I’m blessed to have her. I don’t want that to look any different than it does.

“She knows her story is public. She uses her story to guide people to their own success story, so I have permission to use it because most of her story is my story, too. It’s obviously from different lenses, but my story—my childhood—is of my mom’s addiction and what that looks like now.”

Kirby plans to pursue a career as a school psychologist, saying she wants to make sure children growing up with similar adverse experiences don’t go down the wrong path. Kids coming from a life similar to hers are either going to do exactly what they’ve seen or go the opposite route—as she did.

She wants to be the voice of success stories.

“Wherever I land in psychology,” Kirby said, “I want to take my story and be able to share with people, ‘Hey, there is hope. Let me help you find the ways to get there.’”