PHOENIX — It’s a huge week for Maggie Ramsey. A culmination of hard work and determination now provides her with a new future.
“I feel like I just climbed Mount Everest, I really am on cloud nine, I can’t explain it better,” said Ramsey.
Ramsey is the first graduate of Goodwill’s Excel Center. The program broke ground last year and offers a tuition-free academy, providing adults a second chance at earning their high school diplomas.
“If you really want something, go for it, it’s never too late to get what you want,” said Ramsey.
Like more than 700,000 other Arizonans, the 26-year-old mother of two says she was a few classes short of finishing high school. Last year, she decided to dream big, imagining a better life for her children.
“Especially after having my children, I realized I need to do more, my children deserve more, and I deserve more,” said Ramsey.
“We deliver full 22 credit diplomas, but of course, we’re wrapping services around our students to destroy the barriers that are actually stopping them from returning,” said Goodwill Excel Center superintendent Georgia Harris.
Harris says those services include flexible learning schedules, quality teachers and life coaches, transportation assistance, and potentially most important, free childcare.
“Them having an on-campus childcare that was no cost to me, that was huge,” said Ramsey.
“We have students from every walk of life, and we are doing our best to make sure that that there’s a place for them right here, and if you want to start, we’re going to walk with you until you get done,” said Harris.
Even though she’s graduating, Ramsey is far from done. Her sights are now set on becoming an Intensive Care Unit nurse. Career counselors helped her plot that course as well.
“My aunt actually got sick and seeing how she was treated in the ICU, I figured that’s what I want to do, I want to help people and be there for their families and them during the hardest times of their lives,” said Ramsey.
It's an opportunity that all began with a brave step and an organization ready to lead her down a new path.