Achieving a goal brings about one of the best feelings in the world. Getting derailed from the track leading toward a goal brings about one of the worst feelings imaginable.

Roberta Wolford has experienced both.

From having to halt two attempts at college following pregnancies, to attempting college a third time and successfully earning a degree, Roberta finally has been able to set her life on a trajectory toward success. The WIA helped ensure her final attempt at a college education did not falter.

Roberta is thriving in her new career as a medical assisting instructor at the Pikeville Campus of the National College of Business and Technology. In fact, she is teaching many of the same classes she took to begin her own retraining.

I was able to achieve my goals, but not without the WIA," she said. "It was a blessing."

By the end of 2000, Roberta had completed a full year of classes toward an associate's degree in medical assisting at the National College of Business and Technology in Pikeville. It was her third attempt at college, and she was determined to keep going until she graduated. Despite her determination, her family's finances were getting so tight they threatened to squeeze her out of college again.

Her husband was unable to work because of a disabling injury, and Roberta's income from her job at a fast-food restaurant wasn't nearly enough to fund her education and support her family.

"I didn't have the money to pay to keep going to school, and I didn't want to take out a lot of loans because I didn't know if I would be able to pay them back after I got out," Roberta said.

She was frighteningly close to having to drop out again, and that left her disillusioned, she said. Everything changed when WIA came into her life in early 2001.

Sick of having to scrape by on a fast-food income as she had for 13 years, Roberta took the advice of an administrator at the college and went to the Pike County JobSight. The JobSight is a comprehensive one-stop workforce center which provides WIA services in Pikeville under contract with the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). Brenda Akers, a WIA case manager there, helped Roberta enroll for WIA assistance.

Roberta's eyes "seemed to light up" even upon their first meeting, Brenda said.

"You could tell that Roberta was just so desperate to stay in college," she said. "When we told her we could help her, it was like a massive worry was lifted off her mind."

WIA funds covered her tuition and costs for transportation, books and other basic needs related to her final year of college classes. She earned her associate's degree in medical assisting in May 2002, and credits the WIA with giving her the opportunity to achieve that goal. Her degree also allowed her to cross into a new career territory she said she might never have encountered otherwise.

A phone call just days after her graduation brought her back to the place where she earned her degree, but this time on the other side of the classroom as an instructor.

Her medical assisting degree qualifies Roberta, now 33, to work at doctors' offices or hospital emergency rooms, but she said the college's "family atmosphere" drew her back to become a teaching faculty member.

"I love the staff there, and we're all friends," she said. "After they offered the job to me, I looked at it like I was going back home."

Roberta teaches five courses, including classes in laboratory terminology, anatomy and physiology. She estimates she's now teaching about 100 students a day.

Roberta said she was confident enough in the training she received at the college to quickly shake off the nerves that accompanied being in front of a classroom for the first time. She is still grateful to the WIA for allowing her to look back at the journey that led to her degree and speak to her students with the confidence of a winner.

Not content just to relish those successes, Roberta also is considering another step in her medical education. Building on the degree she already has, two more years of study at nearby Pikeville College could allow her to become a registered nurse.

However, Roberta said she wants to wait about five years before becoming a college student again. Even as she gets her teaching career off the ground, she said she is able to spend more quality time with her three young daughters than she could as a student.

"All they've ever known is their mommy being in school or doing homework," Roberta said. "I want to do this for a few more years, but I don't want to lose sight of becoming a nurse, either."

In the meantime, Roberta often shares with her students the story of how she got where she is today. She said it's not uncommon to discover some students are facing situations tougher than the one she transcended with the help of WIA. When she does, she doesn't hesitate to point those students toward the Pike County JobSight, which enabled her to earn a new lease on life and her education.

"The WIA support does help a lot," Roberta said. "If you've got the desire to get in college and make the best of it, it can make sure you can stay there and achieve your goals like I did. With the WIA, you don't have any excuse not to."