Tasha Brockman knew from the time she was in high school that she wanted a career in the dental profession. Assistance from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth Program helped Tasha turn that dream into reality by helping her become a certified dental assistant.

Tasha spends her workdays at the White House Dental Clinic in McKee either beside the reclining examination chairs, handing tools to the dentists and helping care for the patients, or behind the clinic's front desk, working busily to arrange appointment schedules and accepting payments.

"I really do love my job," Tasha says. "You're the dentists' 'right hand man,' so you see everything they do, and it's a new experience every day."

Tasha's ties to the dental clinic go back to her senior year at Jackson County High School, when she participated in a co-op project that allowed her to spend some afternoons working there. After graduating in 2002, Tasha continued working part-time as a dental aide at the clinic, even as she enrolled for a full-time class load in the dental assistant program offered at Somerset Community College's campus in London.

The pressures and financial strains of her hectic schedule were compounded by her nearly 80-mile round-trip daily commute from Jackson County home to London for classes. WIA relieved a great deal of that pressure by covering a portion of her tuition, as well as the costs of her books, food, and transportation related to the two-year dental assistant program.

Tasha says the help couldn't have come at a better time.

"I had already taken out loans to help cover some costs, and I would have been even further in debt than I was without the WIA," she says. "I don't know if I could have done it without (WIA)."

In addition to assisting teens and young adults with education-related expenses, the WIA Youth Program also places participants in public and private sector jobs with local employers that match the their interests and allow them to earn a paycheck as they learn valuable career skills. The program also provides a broad array of year-round services including: tutoring, study skills, alternative schooling, leadership development, mentoring, guidance and counseling.

The Daniel Boone Development Council delivers WIA programs in Jackson and Clay counties under contract with the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). The Daniel Boone Development Council office in McKee is also an access point for the JobSight network, a collaborative partnership of workforce and training agencies administered by EKCEP.

Tasha's greatest challenge came in the middle of her clinical rotations-a time when students' schedules are at their most hectic-when her father was diagnosed with cancer. The strong work ethic and determination to succeed that Tasha demonstrated impressed her WIA career adviser, Eloise Elswick.

"A lot of other people would have probably put everything on hold at that point, but Tasha didn't," Eloise says. "Her father talked to me around that time and told me that he wanted her to keep going and not quit, so I kept working with her and encouraging her."

Eloise says Tasha honored her father's wishes and moved forward with her education despite his grave medical situation.

"She said she thought about quitting at one point because she wanted to spend all the time she could with her father," Eloise says. "But he never stopped encouraging her and making her realize that she needed to complete what she had started."

Although he has since passed away, Tasha's father lived to see her graduate from the program in May 2005.

Shortly after her graduation, Tasha passed the state board examinations, became certified as a dental assistant, and began full-time work at the White House Dental Clinic almost immediately.

Tasha credits the WIA with helping keep her focused on her goal when times were toughest.

"It really is a great program," Tasha says of the WIA. "It has been a tremendous blessing to me."

For more information, contact the Daniel Boone Development Council at (606) 364-4484.