While attending classes at NCCU, I began to work full-time as a correspondent for  People's Security Life Insurance Company. Balancing my time between school and work  took its toll. I choose work, but vowed to return to school to complete my education  one day. 

Although computer science was not my initial course of study, while in the work force  I became astonished at sheer power and magnitude of the machine. Never having the  exposure to computers in my youth, I was fascinated that the computer could become  the true level-playing field. The color of your skin, nationality, or age is not of  importance in the cyberspace or when programming a payroll program. The output is how  a program is judged. Thus, computer technology is a very important and powerful tool.

Upon returning to Elizabeth City, I worked at Jackson-Hewitt as a tax preparer and took some courses part-time at the College of the Albemarle. Here I met my mentor, Jane  Rossman, an instructor who sparked my interest in telecommunications, networking, and  programming. 

While at COA, I was a tutor in My honors and awards included Who's Who Among Students  in American Junior Colleges, the National Dean's List, the National Collegiate  Minority Leadership Awards, and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for which I placed  sixth in the International Leadership Hallmark Essay Competition. This was a first  for the my chapter of the Honor Society. While at COA, I started a petition to  restore evening lab hours at the computer lab. Late in my matriculation, my interest  shifted to programming and I substituted some programming courses for some  information system courses. After earning an Associate in Applied Science Degree in  Information Systems, I was advised to continue on for my Bachelor's degree rather  than go on for a second associate in programming. 

 The ONR/NASA Research Scholarship Program has given me an opportunity to interact with others at my level as well as meet the visiting lecturers. Contrary to popular  belief, computer programming is not a withdrawn profession, there is in deed human  interaction in programming teams, system analyst, and HTML. If accepted into the  program, I would look forward to participating in the research training seminars. In the past,  I've only heard of UNIX in community college. Everyone was trying to get  certification to it.  Now that I have been exposed to this operating system, I can appreciate how the coding evolves into the end result. The satisfaction of seeing a programming form beginning to end is very envigorating.   After graduation, I'd like to pursue a masters degree in order to possibly teach at a community college and  eventually at the  university level. Perhaps, I can bring some of the interest and  enthusiasm for computing that Ms. Rossman sparked in me.