Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College alumna Sara Boyer ’02, ’13MLD, SMWC’s associate vice president of student success, and Tia Wilkinson ’08, ’13MLD, Ph.D., have The Woods to thank for their friendship.
Last year, their bond grew tighter as Woodsies during the annual Ring Day ceremony, one of the campus’s most cherished traditions. SMWC honors students for their academic achievement with the symbolic onyx Woods Ring. It’s an outward symbol of a student’s academic achievement and bond with The Woods community.
“I think alumni of The Woods carry their connections with each other all their lives,” Boyer said.
The year 2025 was perfect for Boyer and Wilkinson to grow their connection. Coincidentally, Ring Day fell on Wilkinson’s birthday – March 29.
“I told my husband, Paul, that I really wish Tia had a ring, so we decided to get her one. We called Tia’s wife, Joann, to let her in on our plan and asked about Tia’s ring size and preference for silver or gold,” Boyer said. “Meanwhile, Joann told Tia that Paul and I wanted to invite her to our house for her birthday.”
When Wilkinson learned she would be spending her birthday with their friends in Indiana, she jumped on board with the plan – no questions asked. She was just excited to give Joann her first campus tour.
“When we got to Corbe House, Sara said to come into the room where the rings were and that’s when she told me one of them was mine. I was stunned and blindsided, in a good way,” Wilkinson said. “When I finished my undergraduate degree, I thought about getting a ring, but I had a lot going on in my life with five children and my wife had a terminal illness. I was just at a point in my life when it would have been impossible to leave everything (in Texas) and come to campus.”
Not only did Wilkinson make it to campus, but she also walked the stage and finally accepted her long-awaited gold Woods ring.
“I was standing in line with so many students. The guy in front of me turned around at one point and said, ‘You’re Dr. Wilkinson. I’ve been in your class.’ I had another former student of mine who wanted me to take a picture with everyone in her family,” Wilkinson said. “It was great and brought back a lot of memories from our MLD cohort and all the things we’ve gone through together since.”
Boyer and Wilkinson, who is also an adjunct faculty member at SMWC, first crossed paths in the early 2000s. That’s when Wilkinson, who lives in Texas, was working on her bachelor’s degree in theology through the Woods Online program, where Boyer worked at the time.
Their friendship, however, didn’t blossom until they were enrolled in the same Master of Leadership Development cohort at SMWC in February 2012.
“It was an intense, one-year master’s program,” Boyer said. “At that time, students had to come to campus every eight weeks, so Tia would fly in Friday night from Houston, Texas, and we would spend all night cramming and getting ready to present as a group on Saturdays. Then, we’d all breathe a sigh of relief and go out for dinner and drinks before our next class started.”
Since their graduation in 2013, they’ve kept in constant contact.
“For my 60th birthday, my husband threw me a surprise party and Tia and Joann flew in from Houston,” Boyer said. “Then, Tia and Joann stayed in Italy for a month, and my husband and I took a trip to Italy, where we got to meet up and have dinner by the Colosseum.”
Their friendship has endured the good, the bad and the ugly sides of life.
“We’ve experienced heartbreaks together – the loss of parents and Tia lost her wife to brain cancer not long after we graduated,” Boyer said. “Tia is the kind of friend I would reach out to for prayer and to share what’s going on in our lives, and we have probably the most open and transparent conversations with each other. We love and support one another and our families. I have a great deal of trust in her and value her opinion.”