I had dropped out of college more than twenty years ago and almost given up on ever returning. Receiving a scholarship wasn’t even on my mental radar since these things happened to smart, successful, much-younger people. I considered myself a failure first for dropping out of college to join the Navy and then also quitting the Navy when I became a single mom. However, my dream of returning to college finally came true and like so many returning students, I found myself more successful than before. When my advisor here at Highline, Laura Manning suggested I take Honors 100 it took me by surprise. I never considered taking a class for the purpose of helping me sell myself; after all it would take some doing for this girl. So, although I was skeptical, it ended up being a brilliant move. Thanks to Dr. Barbara Clinton, I was nominated to apply for the Next Step Scholarship, which offered full tuition to the University of Washington, Tacoma and I was a finalist in the nationwide “Calgon, Take Me Away Scholarship”. I didn’t win the “Calgon” scholarship, which I submitted without her review (perhaps there is a tip there!), but I did receive the Next Step, which I had meticulously worked on for weeks, with lots of peer review and revisions. I still can’t believe it! Now I am on my way to bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and possibly graduate studies in Creative Writing or Teaching English as a Foreign Language after that.

Honors 100 allows students to find a mentor and a life coach in Dr. Clinton. She shows you how to find what’s special about you (even the failures) and how to capitalize on that. She’s always telling us to think of her as our private consultant. People pay hundreds of dollars for the kind of coaching, advice and time Honors 100 offers. We’re not all geniuses or major over comers, but everyone has a story. Learning how to tell my story paid off in a major way!