Vasti

Last April, I was driving down the new loop on my way home from work (FM 4000) when I saw a girl standing next to a bicycle stranded on the side of the road.  I turned around to go back and check on her because I thought she looked familiar.  When I got back to her, her dad had just pulled up in a van and they were loading the bike……she waived me on and told me everything was good.  This past week I saw the same bicycle on campus, I pulled “Vasti” out of her Work Scholarship duties for a little while to see if that was her bike. 
 

Here is the rest of her story……… 
“My mom and dad divorced when I was little and my mom does not have a car.  I live with her and my two brothers in the apartments behind the old Dairy Queen.  My mom works at night but has to stay at home during the days to be with one of my brothers who has severe health problems.  And I have to be there at night time to watch him. 

After I graduated high school from Mount Pleasant in 2015 I was afraid to think about College because I knew I would not be able to afford it.  Even worse, I was scared to come onto the campus because I felt so out of place.  The Work Scholarship Program changed all this for me.  This is my second summer to be in the Program.  This Program has not only allowed me to save over $1,200 for college, but it also got me used to being on a college campus! 

Last year, I enrolled in and completed 24 hours of College.  I am the first, and only person in my family to ever go to college.  My mom and dad never even graduated high school. The hardest part of college was getting to and from school.  My dad works shift work at Pilgrim’s so I have to set my schedule up to where I can take classes on the days that daddy goes in early, that way he can pick me up at my house and drop me off at NTCC in time for classes. 

Because my dad’s work schedule is constantly changing I needed a back-up way to get to class (I don’t have a license and I do not even know how to drive). With some of the money I saved from being in the Work Scholarship Program last year and some I received from a PELL grant, after we got our rent and bills paid, I was able to buy a new bike.  The days my dad cannot get me, I ride my bike to NTCC.  I was afraid that if I told my teachers that I did not have a way to class, or if I told my work supervisor I sometimes did not have a way to get to the College for the Work Scholarship Program, I would be kicked out.  I cannot afford to NOT be in this Program….and more importantly, I can NOT afford to NOT go to college.

My younger brother wants to be a chef one day.  I believe that seeing me go to college is setting a good example for him.  I am hoping and praying that he gets the same opportunity to be in the Work Scholarship Program that I have gotten.” (Vasti’s Work Scholarship assignment is housing, she is pictured here re-arranging and/or repairing furniture)

By the way, we have worked out a back-up plan for Vasti to get to and from classes AND the Work Scholarship Program.  We have also set her 16 year old brother up on a tour of our Culinary Arts Program and he is going to shadow one of our “Chef’s” for a day. 
 

MORE INFORMATION
For more Information please contact Dr. Jon McCullough at 903-434-8115 or jmccullough@ntcc.edu