Category: Success Story

The first class Christy Sanders’ attended in her adult education program changed her life. Before attending her class, Sanders was hesitant and a little embarrassed about enrolling in the program.

“I was nervous. I was embarrassed. I was so many things,” Sanders says reflecting on the moments before her course, “But I just said, ‘Hey, I’m going.’”

Sanders says that her embarrassment stemmed from “just going back to school” and feeling older than her classmates. But that changed.

Sanders was comforted by “seeing people I hadn’t seen for a while” in that pivotal first class.  “We ended up coming back to school together,” Sanders says.

Her newfound comfort and support, combined with the encouraging staff at Northeast Mississippi Community College (NMCC) helped motivate her to continue her education.

“[The program] gave me a few good teachers,” Sanders says of Cole and her colleagues. “Y’all believed in us. You pushed us. Even when I said, ‘I can’t do this’, y’all would come back and say, ‘Yes, you can do this.’ Y’all give us all of you. I mean, look at me! So I think y’all have done a great job.”

Sanders’ formal education took a turn in high school. She withdrew from her coursework in the ninth grade to get a head start on her career. She became a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) at a local nursing home and worked there for 14 years.

“I just got off track,” Sanders says.

Sanders soon prioritized furthering her education and began working on her high-school-equivalency diploma. She attended night classes after working all day. But her motivation would not be deterred. She even helped motivate her fellow classmates.

“Christy was such a determined student,” Sanders’ instructor, Shanna Cole, says, “She worked very hard and set high expectations for herself. She was so encouraging to her fellow classmates and always pushed them to give their best.”

After years of hard work, Sanders finally earned her diploma. She then went on to pursue a degree in social work. Currently, Sanders is taking English Composition and College Algebra at Northeast and will enroll full-time this fall.

She has already seen a financial difference from obtaining her diploma. “I was working full-time; now I’m working part-time, and I might have to do that for a while,” she says. “Right now, I can tell a financial difference, but I just say, ‘It’ll get greater later.’”

Sanders is driven by helping others, and although she acknowledges the changes, she may have to make transitioning into her new career, she embraces the challenge.

“Once you get to what you are striving for, all the sacrifices you made will be well worth it,” she says, summing up her approach. “It’s going to be stressful, going from a CNA to a social worker, but at the same time, it’s going to be worth it to face the challenges and build my career. I want to give back in some form, and just be a positive influence in someone else’s life besides my own.”

“In my family,” she goes on, “we have a lot of people who work in the medical field. As a child, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do; when I started working as a CNA, it gave me a vision. Seeing people with no voice, who may or may not have anyone visit them, as a social worker, that’s what you’re supposed to be there for: to give.”

Sanders has this to say to anyone considering furthering their education:

“Go for it. You can do it. I did it. You can do it, too.”

Finding the Keys to Success

Jalisa Estes drove by the adult education classroom at Northeast Mississippi Community College (NMCC) for 13 years before she made the decision to continue her education by working on her high-school-equivalency diploma.

There were reasons she had put it off for so long: kids, work, life. But underneath it all was a prevailing negative belief:

“I just didn’t see myself as smart,” she says.

Estes withdrew from high school at the age of seventeen due to unforeseen circumstances and to avoid being held back another year. She also had low self-esteem and grappled with a lack of motivation.

“I just wasn’t motivated,” she says. “My best courses were English and art. Anything outside of that, I was just bored with it.”

But once Estes decided she wanted to obtain her diploma, she did so quickly.

“My teachers kept me motivated. They inspired me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of.”

After graduating, Estes spoke with College and Career Navigator, Charlie Smart, for guidance on her next steps.

“She liked technology,” says Smart. “She was working as an online administrator for three different companies, building websites and managing their social media accounts. These were jobs she just went for, and she got them—without a high-school diploma. She taught herself to code, for goodness sake! The answer was obvious.”

Smart told her about the two-year degree in Information Systems Technology at Northeast, which offers a pathway in iOS app development.

“I had taught myself a lot for website development,” Estes says. “App development seemed like the next step.”

Cutting-edge work such as app development and virtual reality is not without its difficulties—such as learning different coding languages. How did she deal with such challenges?

“Practice,” Estes says, “If you don’t practice it, you’re never going to learn it. I’m just constantly trying to put more into my brain.”

Estes feels as if she has found the perfect path for herself.

“Everything in that program is a puzzle, and I love puzzles!” she says.

And as an added bonus, her newfound career path and skill set have led her to more profits and financial freedoms.

“I have never been on a vacation. My husband has never been on a vacation,” Estes says. “We try to do things for our children that we weren’t able to do as kids, but it’s hard. That’s going to change. The pay for the work I’m going to be doing is almost four times our current household income. I’m going to be able to enjoy my time with my family and do things with my children that I never got to do growing up.”

Estes says her success has four elements.

“Family, love, respect, knowledge–those are the keys to success,” she says.

Estes is living proof that with the right motivations, support, and mindset, students can accomplish more than they ever thought possible. And make life better—for themselves and their families.

An NEMCC Adult Education student perseveres—for all the right reasons.

Shareka Judon was determined to complete her high-school-equivalency diploma to help support her four children.

“Working full-time–and still being a mother.” This is how she describes the challenges she faced in completing her diploma through Northeast Mississippi Community College.

How was she able to overcome these challenges?

“I just put my mind to it,” she says. “There were a lot of late nights, falling asleep with the book in my hand. But I knew I had four babies at home watching me. Especially my girls who were older. They could understand.”

What they understood was, in part, that Shareka—who withdrew from high school in the 11th grade after learning she was pregnant with her oldest daughter—was struggling. They were watching her juggle a couple of important and all-consuming responsibilities.

First, there was the responsibility of motherhood. Shareka smiles more than most people, especially when discussing her children. While she is being interviewed, motherhood is the thing she mentions second-most often.

And not just being there for her kids, as any mother does. But caring for them, in ways most of us don’t have to worry about. That oldest daughter has had four open-heart surgeries, beginning at two months old. The youngest child, her son, is severely autistic. Shareka was unable to attend class in the first few weeks, due to frequent trips to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital. All the while, Shareka managed a full-time job.

Shareka pursued her diploma with Northeast while working full-time as an assistant manager in a retail store. Not long after she earned her diploma, she had to leave her job. Her son had started school, which proved to be overwhelming for him.

“There were lots of days when he went to school and had a meltdown, and I had to go get him,” she says. Work became impossible.

“She had some real challenges juggling everything,” one of her teachers, Shawn Davis, concurs. “She went back and forth from day class to night class. I know it was hard for her.”

Again, motherhood is the thing she mentions second-most often while being interviewed. The thing she mentions most often is not giving up. And that’s what her children really noticed, what they really understood.

“I didn’t want them to say, ‘Well, mama didn’t stay in school, so we don’t care if we do,’” she says. “I wanted to be a good example for them, to let them know to never give up. Keep trying. Success means putting your mind to it, being determined about it, and completing what you started.”

“I see myself (in the future) in a doctor’s office, being successful at something I really love to do.” She wants to learn more about clinical care, she says, “for my daughter and my son. I want to know what I can do to help them.” And for the patients and their families, who will no doubt benefit from her compassion, borne of her own experiences. She has been there. She still is.

Shareka will begin working toward her degree this summer and is determined to obtain her degree.

“I think,” Davis says, “she’ll be able to do whatever she puts her mind to.” And the lives of her patients will be much richer for it.

Focused on Success

Kati Morgan enrolled in NEMCC’s Adult Education program in 2019 after dropping out of high school a few years earlier due to unforeseen circumstances.

In October 2019, she earned her high-school-equivalency diploma. College and Career Navigator Charlie Smart worked to help her enroll in college for the following semester, but it didn’t work out.

“She was working both a full-time and a part-time job, in addition to being a single mother, and she just didn’t have the time,” Smart said. “I always stress to students the importance of training as a way to a better life, but Kati had two jobs and two kids. She wanted to get started with college, she understood the importance and was excited about it, but in the end, she just had to wait.”

A couple of months later, a phone call gave Smart the opening he needed.

“I called her about a completely different matter, and she mentioned that she thought she was ready to enroll for the fall semester. Her part-time job had become her full-time job, and she had left the other job, so it seemed like the perfect time to enroll and work toward her goal of creating a better life for her and her family by going to college. She felt that maybe the time was right.”

After meeting with Smart to complete the enrollment steps, Morgan was introduced to Taylor Johnson, MIBEST program coordinator.

“Kati is such a great student,” said Johnson. “She wanted to go to college, but still had a few doubts as she had never been enrolled in college. We discussed the MIBEST program and the student support that was offered through the program.” “Although she had the extra time to enroll in classes,” Johnson continues, “she was worried that she would overwhelm herself by taking on too much. She said that the MIBEST program seemed perfect for her as she took the next step in achieving her dream. When I asked her what she wanted to be doing in 5 years, she mentioned going back and furthering her education even more. She is very driven. We are lucky to have her as a student.”

The week before classes started, Kati began to second guess herself again. She felt that the classes might be too much, and would interfere with her work.

“I asked her to meet with me and scheduled a Zoom meeting with her advisor at NEMCC,” Johnson said. “She was considering taking seated and online courses, but she was unsure of how to do this. She was almost in tears before we met with her advisor. She was discouraged, but I explained to her that we are all in this together. We discussed the team-teaching aspect of MIBEST and that she would have full access to the MIBEST study hall. We met with her advisor, discussed the schedule changes, and the opportunity to take most of her classes through hybrid courses.”

Morgan felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She was excited to begin the fall semester and knew that with the help from the MIBEST program, she would succeed.

“Taylor and Charlie have given me a lot of guidance, and the MIBEST program gives me the support I need,” Morgan said. “They are the only reason I am in college today. Without them, I would have given up and never pursued it. Getting my diploma helped give me the courage to go to college. I am determined to succeed.”

Kati is now in her fourth week of classes at NEMCC and is doing very well. By enrolling in the MIBEST program, she has received team-teaching in her classes and is receiving weekly transportation assistance that makes the drive to campus a little easier. She is on track to graduate in May 2022 with an Associate of Applied Science in Information Systems Technology-Cyber Defense.

Having overcome so many obstacles to accomplish so much, Kati now feels that enrolling in the adult education program and MIBEST has helped her beyond just earning her high-school-equivalency diploma. She had this to say:

“Not only has NEMCC Adult Education helped me to earn my diploma and gain confidence in my educational journey,” she says, “but they have also helped me give my children the life they deserve!”