To say Tieranny DeCuir is goal oriented may be an understatement.
The college student is currently enrolled in 12 credit hours with another 15 planned in the fall, works as a circulation assistant at the Port Arthur Public Library and as a substitute teacher with Kelly Services in Port Arthur Independent School District.
Somewhere along the way she packs in even more — being a good role model for her four younger siblings while working to make her parents JoAnna DeCuir and Michael Evans and especially grandmother Barbara DeCuir proud.
Her ultimate goal: to become an attorney.
“Tieranny is a focused individual who knows how to set goals and works hard to achieve them,” Steven Williams, assistant library director, said. “This is clearly exemplified by her full-time schedule in college and a part-time employment here at the Port Arthur Public Library.”
Williams called DeCuir’s personal qualities — reliability, multi-tasking, high energy, interest in her job, emotional maturity and commitment to follow through —  astounding.
DeCuir is a 2010 graduate of Memorial High School and a 2012 graduate of Lamar State College-Port Arthur, where she obtained an associate’s degree. She is currently enrolled at Lamar University-Beaumont, where she is a prospective 2016 graduate. She is majoring in criminal justice with a minor in business administration.
“Right now I’m looking at Thurgood Marshall School of Law and South Texas College of Law,” DeCuir said, adding she is also preparing for the Law School Administration Test, or LSAT, a required test for entrance to law school.
DeCuir said she has always wanted to be a lawyer.
“I want to work in general law, everything from criminal law to wills,” she said. “I want to do everything.”
Even with juggling the part-time job at the library while attending college, she was named to the Dean’s List, an honor she is proud of.
“My parents are very active in my life, and I really look up to my grandmother,” she said. “She keeps it real and tells me what to do. I don’t want to disappoint her. And Mr. Steven (Williams), he’s a boss but also a friend and a mentor and tells us when we’re right and when we’re wrong.”
DeCuir makes sure to set a good example for her four younger siblings. She says they are at an impressionable age so she ‘stays on them.’
She was quick to answer when asked where she wants to be in 10 years.
“In 10 years I will have my own law firm, my own law practice,” she said. “My goal is general practice. I want to establish myself first, possibly in Houston, then return home and give back to my community. Yes, in 10 years I want to have ‘attorney at law’ next to my name.”
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