Student Finds the Resources to Follow Dream at Piedmont Tech

Elizabeth Morris has dreamed of becoming a nurse for most of her life. After making a leap of faith by enrolling at the PTC Saluda Campus, that dream is finally within reach.

“I always knew I wanted to become a nurse, but my family never encouraged me to since no one in my family had ever attended college,” Morris said. “Deep down I told myself ‘yo si puedo’ which means I can do it. I told myself I can go to college one day.”

Now in the final year of her Nursing degree at PTC, she's well on her way. She's on schedule to graduate in August 2012. She plans to pursue a bachelor's degree, and, eventually, a master's degree on her way to becoming a nurse practitioner.

Morris's path to success started when she made a decision that it was time to make her dream a reality.

After earning her high school diploma, Morris worked two jobs to pay off her car, and then enrolled in the associate degree nursing program at Piedmont Technical College.

“I came to Piedmont Tech because I always heard they trained the highest quality nurses in the state,” said Morris. “Plus, the new facility in Saluda was very convenient for me to take my pre-requisite courses.”

Morris said she was nervous at first because she had been out of school for 13 years. But then she found out about the resources that were available to all Piedmont Tech students.

“The resources are what have gotten me through so far,” she said. “We have tutors, the drop-in biology and math labs. Piedmont Tech has all the resources you could need; you just have to look for them.”

I have found so much support here from friends, instructors and classmates that I thank God for the day I set foot in that new Saluda Campus.

Morris said she hopes to be a role model not only to the Hispanic community in Saluda, but to her six year-old son as well.

“I try to put it in his mind that I’m going to school so he has to do well in school, too. Because when he grows up, he’s going to have to have a college degree,” she said.

“I think your drive to succeed should never stop, whether it’s becoming a nurse, a teacher or even an engineer,” she added. “You can do it at 18 or 32 or 45. There is no age limit for your dream.”

"I thought once I started college I would be on my own, but I was wrong," said Morris. "I have found so much support here from friends, Instructors and classmates that I thank God the day I set foot in that new Saluda Campus and said 'I want to enroll here to study'."