We Take All Kinds

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: community colleges take all kinds. Literally. We take all kinds of students.

Just today, I talked to a young woman who’s trying to find a way to complete her high school diploma requirements. And when she only needs a few units to get that diploma? It’s essential to find a way for her to make that happen. We do that.

I spoke with a woman about getting both her GED and her Work Keys certification. She has a good job, makes decent money at one of our local plants, supports her young son. But she wants something more. We have that. She doesn’t want to spend her whole life in the plant. We have basic education and workplace training and certifications.

I heard from a 60+ year old woman who told me how she married young, raised a family, took care of elderly parents and then an ailing husband. She always wanted to come to college. She started today, and may be the most excited student I’ve seen so far. This is her dream. We do that.

I met with a military veteran–a man who served in Iraq and received nerve damage as a result. He can no longer serve our country the way he did, but he wants to find another way to give back. He wants to find a career about which he’s as passionate as he is this country. We can help with that.

I met with a student I taught last year. She passed my class. She came to talk to me because someone told her, “you can’t do it.” She didn’t register for the classes she could have. I told her, “You can do it. I know you can.” And I helped her register for and get into the classes she needed. We do that.

I met a student who said, “I’m the first person in my family to ever finish high school. And the first in college.” We do that.

I had a class full of 18-year-old, straight-out-of-high-school students who stared at me, disbelieving when I told them college is a whole new ballgame requiring a whole new set of skills. They don’t believe me now. They will. And they’ll learn. We do that.

We do a lot. And so do our students.