Written by: Macy Petty, Union County News
When Caden Jackson walked across the stage to accept his bachelor’s degree from USC Union, he walked exactly as he has for the past four years at school, wearing his mascot shoes and with his dog, Zeus, by his side.
Jackson, a disabled veteran, decided to go back to school after getting out of the Army. He says that he was inspired to pursue higher education by an experience he had with therapy during this time. “I wanted to help others the way that my therapist helped me,” he said.
He majored in Sociology with minors in Psychology and African American Studies with the goal of becoming a therapist himself. “I had gone back to college before and it wasn’t for me at that time,” he said. “But I went back with a purpose this time, to better myself so that I could better others.”
Jackson says that Zeus, his eight-year-old therapy dog, helped him immense- ly during his education. He was a rescue and was trained as a service dog at Pink Elephant Dog Training. “He’s been a great friend,” said Jackson. “He was right there with me through every class, every presentation, staying up until two and three in the morning with me while I was doing homework.”
As the end of school approached, Jackson was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, a prestigious honor society for college graduates. He credits a lot of his academic success to Zeus’s “calming influence.” “If he could tell that I was getting stressed out, he would lay his head on my lap like ‘you got it dad,’” he said.
Jackson was also the USC Union mascot, Blaze, during his time in college. He dressed up for special events throughout the county, making an appearance at the WBCU 5K and giving out books at Foster Park Elementary School.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said, “and a great way to represent the university.” Jackson will be taking a gap year to work as teacher’s assistant at USC Union. Next year, he plans to attend USC Columbia to get his Masters degree. Zeus is now retired as a service dog, and Jackson is having another dog trained to take his place. “I told him that he could just chill out with me as a house pet,” he said.
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