Karen Day – Speech Language Pathology Assistant
“Now, I feel like my future has endless possibilities. I am
living [my] dream…”When Karen Day dropped out of high school in the
middle of her 10th grade year, she admits that her future
looked grim. But several years later, Day decided
to take one small step that would change her life- enrolling
in Caldwell Community College and Technical
Institute’s Adult High School program to earn her
diploma. After earning her high school diploma, Day
took the next step, enrolling in CCC&TI’s Speech Language
Pathology Assistant program and thrived. She
became an active member of the SLPA club, served
as Vice-President of the student group during her second
year in the program and even received the SLPA
Faculty Award upon her graduation.
Day says she was motivated and inspired by her younger sister and her son.“I didn’t have anyone in my family who had finished high school, much less that had graduated
from college,” she says. “I wanted to be an example
for my younger sister and show her that it was possible
to succeed, even coming from our family.” In the
same way, Day says she wanted to set a precedent
for her son. “I knew that I had to get a college degree
so that my son would have a better quality of life than
I had.” Day’s hard work and that college degree are
already giving Day a return on her investment. After graduation, she landed what she describes as her dream job,
with a private company called Tar Heel Human Services, a speech language pathology practice located near
Wilmington, NC. Day says she still has moments where even she is surprised by how that simple first step toward
her high school diploma has impacted her life. “Now, I feel like my future has endless possibilities,” she says. “I
am living the dream that I had for myself when I started this journey three years ago…I look around, take a deep
breath, and realize that all the work that I put into my education so far, was well worth it.”
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