Message from the President Happy Holidays from Robeson Community College! Want to know the best gi昀琀 you can give yourself this holiday season? 吀栀e gi昀琀 of education. Education is the key to success that can take you from one season of your life to another and can truly change the trajectory of your life forever. Education is transformational. It gives you con昀椀dence to know that you can achieve your dreams. One Robeson County teen understood this principle at an early age and made the decision to pursue academic excellence while in high school. You may have read about Hannah Pearson in the newspaper and you may have seen her story on IN THIS ISSUE WRAL and other media outlets, as it has gone viral. Hannah heard about the free Career and College Promise classes available through RCC and she was determined 2 COVER STORY: RCC University Gradu- to maximize the bene昀椀t of those classes, earning an associate’s degree from RCC at ate Hannah Pearson enters UNCP as the age of 17, while still in high school. Her story doesn’t stop there, and I hope that a junior at the age of 17 you’ll read more and become inspired by her motivation. 4 The Art of Success Taking just one class can change your mindset and put you on a path you never considered. As you’ll read in one of our stories in this issue, that happened to Dr. 6 Poetry: The Twelfth of June Ross Masters who took one continuing education class to become an EMT, and now he is a practicing physician at a hospital in Tennessee. And not only that, but the 7 Poetry: I Choose Hope... new path that he choose, put him in the right place at the right time to meet the love of his life. What if he had never taken that class? 8 From EMT to MD: How RCC started Dr. Ross Masters on his path in Education allows you to dream, it allows you to reach further than what you thought healthcare was possible. 10 Short-term training opportunities For RCC graduate Christian Williams, education allowed him to defy all odds 11 Recipes from RCC’s Culinary Arts and overcome adversity. As his mother states, “failure was never an option” for Christian, who was diagnosed with autism at an early age. 吀栀rough his struggles, he RCC Graduate Christian Williams has learned so much more about his abilities and has become a major success story 12 Defies All Odds, Overcomes for Robeson Community College. Although he never thought he would become a Adversity college graduate, on May 12, 2023, he walked across the stage to pick up his degree, a moment of triumph in his life, in which he said, “I did it.” 14 Winners of 2023 Fantasy Display 吀栀ere are endless success stories across our campus. From BLET to Health Contest Occupations to University Transfer and Career and Technical programs, our 15 Poetry: America Stood Still students are highly trained and highly quali昀椀ed for the workforce, and there’s always room for more success stories. 16 Virl’s Vines leave a harvest of kind- ness and generosity for students to I invite you to visit our campus, to enroll in one of our amazing programs whether it learn, share is short-term training or a program leading to a certi昀椀cate, diploma or degree. Come join us and start your success story today! We look forward to seeing you on campus 17 Spring 2024 Curriculum Schedule soon and joining the RCC family. 20 Adult High School Enrollment 21 COMTech Programs Melissa Singl攀爀 1