In 2002, Kathy Terry's family celebrated academic achievement times three: her daughter graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with an education degree on her way to becoming a schoolteacher in Hazard; her son graduated from eighth grade at Allen Central Middle School on his way to high school; and Kathy--then 40 years old--graduated from Hazard Community College as a registered nurse on her way to a successful career and bright future.

After a life that included dropping out of school when she was only 16 years old and subsequently living through a divorce, financial struggles, and shifting educational goals, Kathy's graduation represented the culmination of years of hard work and determination.

Still, all the hard work and determination in the world won't necessarily help when someone doesn't have adequate funds to pay for college and the many costs associated with it. Kathy supplied plenty of drive, and the WIA Title I Adult Program was there to pick up the slack when her finances got stretched to their limit.

With the assistance of the WIA, Kathy was able to graduate from the grueling nursing curriculum last May. She began working at Pikeville Methodist Hospital just a few weeks later as a graduate nurse, and became a registered nurse after passing her state nursing board exam last August.

Kathy credits the support she received from the WIA with single-handedly allowing her to keep alive her dream to finish college and become a registered nurse despite financial hardships and the strain of balancing studies with motherhood.

Kathy's journey to academic success and a well-paying career was a lengthy one. Not long after she entered the 11th grade, she dropped out of school just as her five siblings had. She married soon afterward, and became a mother of two in short order. Her husband always worked and provided for the family, so she never thought about getting back into school or acquiring job skills for the future.

After 14 years of marriage, Kathy and her husband divorced, and she found herself raising her son and daughter by herself. She received child-support payments, but still had to depend on financial assistance obtained through the Welfare program to fully meet her family's needs.

Having to rely on that assistance reminded Kathy of her mother, who also was forced to depend on the payments to raise her six children by herself after her husband left the family. Kathy was determined not to abuse the assistance, and she vowed to "use it wisely" until she could get an opportunity to better herself somehow.

"I was determined that I didn't want to raise my children like that," she says. "But I knew that I had to do something big in order to change things."

The first step in that process was earning her GED. She went on to earn an office systems degree from Hazard Community College. Around that time she also remarried and moved from her native Hazard to Floyd County, but could find no office systems work in that area.

Kathy then enrolled at Prestonsburg Community College (PCC) to take some general college courses, but she had already started having thoughts of eventually becoming a registered nurse. It was during her brief time at PCC that a classmate suggested she check out the WIA programs offered through the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program (Big Sandy Area CAP).

It wasn't until after she began classes in Mayo Technical College's licensed practical nurse program in Paintsville in early 2000 that she applied for WIA supportive services. She learned she was eligible for WIA assistance that would cover her tuition as well as college-related expenses for textbooks, gas, and meals.

Although Kathy was working toward a practical nursing career, she had never given up on her goal to become a registered nurse. After spending one semester at Mayo Technical College, she applied and was accepted into the registered nursing program at Hazard Community College. Since she made good grades in her classes at Mayo, the WIA assistance she was receiving carried over into her new college endeavor.

It is a good thing that support continued, Kathy says. Her husband became disabled and could not work, and the occasional substitute teaching jobs she was able to do didn't pay nearly enough to make ends meet. The little amount she brought in through those teaching stints soon disappeared when she had to fully focus on her intense nursing studies.

Though she was succeeding in her class work—maintaining the 3.0 grade point average she would carry through to graduation two years later—the financial strain would have been too much to bear without the WIA support, she said. She couldn't have covered the cost of her textbooks, which sometimes were as much as $150 for a single book. Paying for the nearly 40-mile trip from her home in Floyd County to Hazard to attend class four days per week would have been an added burden that could have stopped her education dead in its tracks.

She never had to worry about any of that, thanks to the WIA.

"The tuition would have been hard anyway, but in nursing you also have to buy uniforms, shoes and lots of other things," Kathy says. "With my husband not able to work, and having to drive that far to school, there's no way I could have come up with the money to pay for it all."

It has been just over a year since she started working at Pikeville Methodist Hospital, and she still loves her life as a registered nurse. She works the night shift on the hospital's "medical floor," which can involve assisting patients suffering from any number of other medical conditions, including everything from diabetes and heart disease to respiratory problems.

"There's never a dull moment, and no night is ever the same," she says. "I like that."

Although her work has fulfilled a dream, and her new income has enabled her to become self-sufficient for the first time in her life, Kathy is already thinking about the future. She hopes to begin taking occasional classes soon toward a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree, which could open the door for her to get into nursing management.

None of it would have been possible without the assistance she received from WIA, and Kathy wants to challenge others who might feel they are too old to get their GEDs and enter college to "go for it."

"Go find out about the WIA, and let it help you while you're helping yourself," Kathy says. "With all of the assistance that it offers, there's really no good excuse not do try to do something with yourself if you really want to work, have a better life and do more for your kids."