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Howard, 39, left NYU because she got an off-Broadway acting job, she wrote in a letter to her classmates, and eventually, other opportunities came her way. She earned a Golden Globe nomination in 2007 for her role in \"As You Like It,\" and went on to win a Screen Actors Guild award for her work on the film, \"The Help.\" Her personal life blossomed too; she married her college sweetheart, actor Seth Gabel, in 2006. They have two children. However, she never lost sight of her goal to become an NYU grad.

\"As the years passed, a passion for personal development and learning blossomed. Similarly, a desire to exist within a community of individuals who were also experiencing the transformative effects of an education,\" she wrote. \"I remained focused and determined to complete my degree and often fantasized about walking at graduation. I wasn’t at all intimidated by the fact I would be decades older than the majority of graduates. Seth (my husband) and I did the math and realized that many babies born the year I first started NYU were probably graduating alongside me, which made me even more excited. How wild, how weird, and what a great story.\"

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