Ashley

Our Promise to Ashley has been fulfilled. A promise that she could attend college without accumulating crushing student debt.

Ashley dreamed of being a Special Education teacher, but while attending school she was hired by Huntington Bank and eventually promoted to their Customer Relations department. She’s found she is a very good listener and has excellent communications skills.

And Huntington offers a program which will underwrite courses she might want to take toward a business degree,which is where she now finds her interests and talents are leading her.

But let’s tell her story one more time, a story that recognizes that finding your way to a career that is fulfilling isn’t always a straight line.

Ashley had an uncle who was in an accident that resulted in his leg being amputated and he needed help. Over the years, she saw other people and children who needed extra help because of physical or mental challenges. That’s when she began thinking about Special Education.

In high school, three experiences contributed to her focus on Special Education:

• She had an opportunity to observe an Early Childhood Education class at the Careerline Tech Center operated by the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District.
• In her junior year she volunteered with the West Ottawa Special Olympics Bowling team.
• And then, in her senior year, she took the class that she had observed.

But a possible job in that field meant college. So, in the 8th grade, Ashley applied to Hope College’s Trio Upward Bound program because she had heard they had a reputation for preparing students to apply for college.

Not everyone gets into Upward Bound. Students in the 8th grade make application. There is an interview process in which students need to show they have the motivation to accomplish their dream of advanced education. Once accepted there is participation in the twice weekly tutoring available to all students participating. Then six weeks each summer at Hope College.

Initially, Ashley began at Baker College. However, during her spring semester she was surprised to discover (as were we) that she was only able to earn a certification in Special Education, not a degree that would give her a full teaching position. She scrambled, looked into options at other universities and found her way to Western Michigan University and then to Muskegon Community College deciding she would become certified as an aide for Special Education classrooms.

To learn more about the Holland/Zeeland Promise Scholarship, visit www.cfhz.org/hzpromise