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But through sheer determination, focus, hard work and
the support of colleagues, friends and family, Collins
and Mack managed to pursue their dream of college degrees
– after nearly a decade of effort.
“When I received my degree, I felt like a bride
on her wedding day,” says Mack, who lives in Southeast
Houston. “I’m looking forward to getting
master’s degree in social work at the University
of Houston.”
“I’m excited about what the future holds,”
says Collins, who lives in Houston’s Heights.
“Now I’m looking forward to the future and
using my education and training in the area in which
I have received my degree.”
The road to college degrees for both women was long
and sometimes arduous. Mack, who has worked for HCC
full time for the past seven years, began by taking
only one course from HCC in 1994. When she took two
HCC courses, she qualified for financial aid, which
Mack used to help her complete her degree.
But as a married mother of three children, Mack was
careful not to overdo her college course load. “I
wouldn’t go past taking two classes at a time,”
says Mack, who has a 24-year-old son, a 20-year-old
daughter and a 5-year-old son. “I said I would
rather do well in two classes than take more and not
do well.”
Mack, who spent hundreds of hours in unpaid but required
internship programs, received her associate’s
degree in 2001 and her bachelor’s degree in social
work this past May.
Collins came to HCC 13 years ago, and has been a full-time
employee for seven years. “I had business college
experience, but I couldn’t transfer any of those
credits, so I basically had to start from scratch,”
says Collins. “An administrator I worked with
knew of my situation and suggested I take classes and
see how far I could go.”
Collins began taking courses from HCC and received
her associate’s degree in mental health and counseling,
with an emphasis on chemical dependency, in 1998. Collins,
who completed hundreds of hours of required work as
an unpaid intern at community centers and halfway houses,
enrolled in TSU and received her bachelor’s degree
in social work in 2002.
Several major family setbacks nearly derailed her college
plans. In 1994 her daughter, Million, now 32, became
seriously ill with leukemia. “My daughter stayed
in Hermann Hospital for six months straight,”
Collins recalls. “I was staying at the hospital
all night, I got family to stay with her. I took a year
off from school to help her.”
Other issues also made college study difficult for
Collins, but she never gave up. “My mother had
a heart attack and had to have a triple bypass,”
Collins says. “There were also a couple of deaths
in the family. But I made it through. I just give God
all the glory, I really do.”
And just the idea of going to school as an adult proved
uneasy initially. “I went to Prairie View’s
main campus and HCC Northwest College and the drive
was long and lonely,” Collins says. “But
after awhile I got used to it. Then, there was the issue
of being an older woman coming into any of her college
classes. Students thought I was the teacher sometimes.
I was taking classes with kids from high school. A lot
of adults won’t go back to school for that reason,
but I tell them, they are there for one reason and you
are there for another. Get over it!”
Her efforts are already paying off. Collins will start
her new job as a part-time counselor for HCC Southwesst
in late June. “I have always been interested in
helping people,” she says. “I’m praying
that I can be a full-time counselor for HCC.”
Collins and Mack also give a lot of credit to their
supervisors and colleagues at HCC Southwest College’s
West Loop campus, including: Dr. Cheryl Sterling, assistant
dean of student development; Sheryl Holland, testing
coordinator; Dr. Marina Nathan, chair of the accounting
department; and Rhonda Johnson, West Loop campus coordinator.
Both also say HCC’s Employee Higher Education
program, which allows full-time employees to take three
hours off per week or receive tuition reimbursement
of between $100 and $400 per semester, was another huge
help.
“Alan Corder (who is a senior human resources
trainer with HCC) was very encouraging,” Collins
says. “With lots and lots and lots of support,
you can do it,” says Mack.
Now, both women are encouraging others to pursue their
college dreams. “My daughter’s are proud
of me. All of my family is proud of me,” says
Mack, who is already in a master’s degree program
at the University of Houston. “My husband was
so proud on graduation day. ”
“I encouraged Cassandra,” says Collins
of Mack. “I encourage a lot of people at my church,
Mt. Sinai in the Heights, to go back to college. If
they need to get a tutor for say, math, I tell them
to get a tutor. The point is, if you have a dream or
goal, go for it.”
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