I can’t say how glad I am that people donate to a school like Heritage. I’ve attended other colleges over the years, but never have I been supported by such a tight knit, caring group of people.

After graduating high school in Lower Valley, I attended a community college in Seattle. When the money ran out, however, I decided to pay for my education by enlisting in the Navy to earn the GI bill. I ended up spending the next six years working in military law enforcement, including four years guarding prisoners at Guantánamo.

While I enjoyed law enforcement, I had started a family by then. And with two young sons, I became concerned about needing a safer job. I had always toyed with becoming a teacher. So when I got out of the service, we moved back to this area, and I took the plunge.

I started by taking general education courses at the community college in Yakima. Then I began looking at Heritage. Unfortunately, my GI bill had run out by then, and so I didn’t know how I was going to pay for school. But I met with a Heritage recruiter anyway.

To my amazement, Heritage was able to provide scholarships and grants to cover nearly all of my college costs. I was also amazed that, unlike my experience at other colleges, Heritage never treated like a nameless file. I was an individual with dreams and goals. Their personal, caring attention has been instrumental in helping me succeed.

Today, I’m a senior looking forward to student teaching in the fall. I’ll soon have a B.A. in Education to become a middle school math teacher. I also plan to get my master’s—perhaps in educational administration. Thanks to Heritage, my career change is a success. And so is my family life.