Alice Clark had built much of her life around the Windsor, NC, textile plant where she worked. So when the plant closed, her life was completely upended. As Clark and her coworkers found themselves without jobs, an associate degree program at Martin Community College (Williamston, NC) offered hope — and the friends’ mutual support as well as support from the college helped carry them through.

Clark decided to pursue a degree in medical office assisting, but she knew that earning her degree would be a challenge. She is a middle-aged wife and mother of a young daughter. Her husband was on disability with no hospitalization insurance, and she had not set foot in a classroom in years.

To complicate matters, the semester was already under way at Martin, and the deadline to add classes had passed. Fortunately, Martin offered a way to overcome those hurdles. 

The college quickly arranged several courses for the plant’s former employees, adjusting class periods to fit the requirements into an abbreviated time span.

Once in class, Clark and most of her former coworkers found themselves in an unfamiliar world. Yet the group hung together, supporting one another inside and outside the classroom. Along the way, she and others found they could reenter the academic world and succeed in most of their courses.

College math proved to be one of Clark’s more difficult challenges. Her Essential Math instructor, Judy K. Winslow, noticed how hard Clark was struggling, but she also noticed how Clark was helping and encouraging others in the class. “I observed that she would be a very good teacher, and I told her so,” Winslow would later say. Clark persisted, receiving encouragement as well as offering it. She made use of the math lab — a resource supported by Achieving the Dream — and the assistance provided by faculty members and peer tutors. With her support system behind her, Clark passed her math course with a B. Having accomplished that, she found the self-confidence to believe that nothing would deter her from building a brighter future. She graduated from the medical assisting program in August.