Chowchilla High grad gets Masters abroad

Twitty, the first CUHS student to receive a degree from University of Edinburgh, said he has never studied so hard in his life.

"It was a tremendous experience to live abroad, obtain an advanced degree from an entirely different schooling system," Twitty said.

University of Edinburgh was the alma mater of many famous scholars including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Walter Scott, Adam Smith, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin and David Hume.

"It wasn't easy," said Twitty. "I knew I was in for a tough year when in the first orientation class I had to attend was on how to not write like an American."

He completed his degree in 10 months. It did not leave a lot of time for sightseeing.

"I would spend seven to eight hours a day in my flat reading, writing and studying. Some days I would not even go outside," he said.

That wasn't always a problem, as Twitty put it, "going outside was not always pleasant especially during the winter months."

Scotland winters were a little tough for the Chowchilla native. Weather was most often cold, windy and rainy. One day he learned he was walking around campus during a hurricane. He had no idea until he heard it on the news that night.

"Just seemed like another Scottish winter day to me," he said.

Twitty's favorite memory from Edinburgh was, "just being able to walk around the city after class. It is a beautiful city and earned its nickname 'Athens of the North' for a reason. The architecture is amazing.

"You just cannot randomly walk around cities in the United States and all of a sudden find a home in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sir Walter Scott resided," he said.

"Scotland is so much older as a country."

Twitty found Scotland very beautiful and with so much history. The university, founded in 1583, predates the birth of the United States by roughly two centuries.

And Twitty found the Scottish people very warm and accepting.

"I was amazed at how helpful people were in the beginning while I was learning my way around the city," Twitty said.

He noted the people are pretty laid back, at least compared to Americans.

"I will miss many things about Scotland — the people, the landscape and they have this great soda-type drink that is called Irn-Bru that is amazing," he said.

A more famous (or infamous) Scottish delicacy is Haggis — a dish that contains sheep's heart, liver and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, suet and spices.

"Actually Haggis is pretty good, too," said Twitty, "as long as you don't ask how it is made or what is in it!"

Twitty says if he was asked to give advice to CUHS students, he would encourage them to have a dream, set goals and go after them. "I was raised in Chowchilla, went to school here and it equipped me to be able to achieve my goals in my undergraduate studies as well as my graduate studies overseas," he stated. "It just requires hard work and never giving up."

Twitty returned home this fall. His degree was confirmed in November. He is now an adjunct history and government professor at California Baptist University in Riverside. He is the son of Sharon and Gary Twitty of Chowchilla.