ALUMNI ALLIANCE: CJ Summerville

After losing his career as a systems engineer, CJ decided it was time to pursue a dream he had carried for years: becoming a teacher. In his own words, CJ shares how hoing back to school while raising a family wasn’t easy, but an Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship gave him the flexibility to keep going.

After building a successful career as a systems engineer, I lost my job when my company restructured and outsourced my position. Without a college degree, I quickly realized how difficult it would be to find another job that matched my experience.

I took whatever work I could find while raising my family. But I knew I wanted something more.

I’d always dreamed of becoming a teacher.

Going back to school felt like a big decision. I was older than most students, raising a family, and trying to figure out how to make college work financially.

Then I found the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund.

I applied for a scholarship and got it.

The scholarship meant more than help with tuition.

It gave me the flexibility to spend less time working and more time earning my degree. It helped cover the everyday expenses that don’t stop just because you’re in school.

For me, that meant groceries on the table and the electric bill getting paid while I worked toward my goal.

A scholarship didn’t do the work for me.

It gave me the room to do the work myself.

Today, I’m finally working as a teacher.

Every day, I’m thankful for the people who chose to invest in someone they had never met.

But what means the most to me is what my children saw along the way.

They watched me study.

They watched me graduate.

They watched me become a teacher.

Now they know that education is possible for them, too.

That’s what a scholarship can do. It can change what a family believes is possible.

I know what it means when someone believes your education is worth investing in.

I also know what you can do when you have that support.

You can keep going.

You can earn the degree.

You can build the career.

You can show your children what’s possible.

And years from now, they may carry that belief into their own lives.

Thank you for believing in single parents like me.

With heartfelt gratitude,
CJ