A few years later, Thomas got married to another man, but that marriage wasn’t successful because of the husband’s issues with addiction.

He took everything, every dollar I had saved, he stole it,” said Thomas. “I lost my apartment and for a while, my daughter and I slept in my Toyota Camry. One day my daughter asked me, Mommy, are we rich or poor?”

Despite all the challenges she faced, Thomas fought to achieve her dream of having a Degree. She persevered in New York City as a domestic worker.

“I worked very hard for this. I didn’t have a high school diploma. Because I’m a go-getter, you can’t tell me no. I will do it,” Thomas said.

After 30 years of working as a domestic worker, Thomas’s daughter sponsored her and she was able to explore her dream to the fullest.

In the Fall of 2018, she enrolled in a GED program at the SUNY Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center (BEOC), New York United States, with the goal of eventually going to college.

Thomas enrolled at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in New York City and was among the oldest among her classmates. “My experience at BMCC was awesome,” she said.

She had been accepted into the college’s Public Health program. With the assistance of her daughter, Thomas is set to graduate in June 2022 and will be fulfilling a years-long promise to her daughter.

“A few years ago, I made a promise to my daughter, that one day my college degree would be hanging next to her degree on one of our walls at home,” said Thomas. “I will get to fulfill that promise in just a few weeks,” she said.

Source: scholarshipregion.com