I completed my Associates from the Community College of Philadelphia and this fall I’m attending Chestnut Hill College to get my bachelors degree in Human Services.  Then I want to continue on to get my masters.  Ultimately, I want to open my own nonprofit organization that focuses on helping those who are suffering from drug and alcohol addictions and other debilitating issues that prevent them from being all that they can be.

I work for the City of Philadelphia License and Inspections, in the Streets Department.  A few months ago coworkers suggested that I talk to the city employee liaison for the Mayor’s Office of Education.  She gave me Graduate! Philadelphia’s card.   I called and came in for an appointment with Laticia Booker.  The environment was really open and friendly and very professional.  I told her what I had done and where I wanted to go and Tish got things rolling immediately.

At Graduate! Philadelphia I met with April Fowlkes, the advisor from Chestnut Hill College who is a very positive person and who encouraged me throughout the process.  After meeting with April I was ready to apply.  Now, the only thing holding me back is the financial aspect.  I’m unable to get Pell, PHEAA or loans right now because my account is flagged in the financial aid system for pending default on previous loans.  I have over $40,000 of loans from my first try at college twenty years ago.  They have been in deferment but now I have to work out a payment plan or try to consolidate them with new loans.

Once that is taken care of though, I will be eligible for Pell and PHEAA grants, and through my job I get 25% off tuition.  Plus, since I graduated from CCP with a GPA above 3.5, I am also eligible for a 25% discount.  I’m trying to use both discounts, but they may only let me use one.

Tish has also helped me find and apply for private scholarships.  I recently was awarded the Richard Ash scholarship, which is $4,000.  Writing my essay for the scholarship was therapeutic in itself, and it motivated me even more to get my degree.  When I found out that I got it, that I was a Richard-A scholar, I bawled my eyes out.  I’m 42 years-old and I’m a scholar?  I was so happy I called Tish up and asked her to join me at the scholarship reception.  I can’t wait until I have enough money to donate back to the Richard Ash scholarship fund to help another person coming up behind me.

What I have learned in this process is that you have to be self-disciplined to get where you want to go.  And I learned that hope is real.  You have to surround yourself with positive, genuine people.  You can’t remain a victim for the rest of your life.  When you become free from the past and take responsibility for life, everything opens up for you.  You are no longer bound to what happened.  You are free.

I had been unemployed for several years due to a back injury I got from my last (highly paid) job.  I took a job as a school janitor to pay the bills, but it was at such low pay, with no benefits, and was far from being my dream job that I realized I had to make a change.  I don’t want to take another entry level job; I want to do more meaningful work.  So I got the ball rolling to go back to school. 

I was also very inspired by Barak Obama.  He had dropped out of college.  Like me, he was not enjoying it the first time around and wasn’t applying himself to the work.  But a little later he straightened up and went back to Columbia undergrad and then Harvard grad school.

When I came to Graduate! Philadelphia, I didn’t have a computer or internet at home, so I was able to use their computers to do internet searches and fill out online forms.  Working with them, I was able to waive application fees, and start to figure out what I wanted to study and pursue career-wise.

At the Graduate! Philadelphia center, I met with the advisor from Chestnut Hill College.  I had a good interview with her, liked what I heard about the college and liked that it was near where I was living.  But then, when I was about to leave, an advisor from Penn State Abington approached me and told me that they had a program that offered exactly what I was looking for.  We spoke further and then I knew it was a good fit.  It was a real gift to have the opportunity to speak with both representatives.  Just those conversations helped motivate me further to keep going since there were people who were interested in helping me get to where I wanted to go in life.

I now have a 3.97 GPA (got my first B last semester) and am really enjoying my classes.  It’s fulfilling to be back in school.  In my former job, I was treated as though I didn’t have much of a brain or I would be asked for ideas and input and never given credit.  I feel more confidence now knowing I can still do good work in school and get good grades.  I was even just invited to join the Penn State honors program, which offers scholarship money every semester.  Hopefully, this will help me be able to study abroad this fall in England or in Sweden next Spring.

Finding the money to go to school has been and continues to be the biggest challenge for me.  This is the last semester that I can use the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) grant to help cover tuition since I had used PHEAA money the first time I went to college.  I’m taking out loans and pursuing scholarships to cover the costs, but each semester it’s still a challenge.  My financial aid officer and Graduate! Philadelphia advisor have been doing all they can to help me identify scholarships.

When I had to stop working due to my back, it was a blessing in disguise.  Now I can finally start doing something worthwhile.  I wish I had turned my life around years ago to pursue other interests I had, like medicine.  But I’m glad to now have a chance to do something useful; to secure a job with a path, not a dead end.