Many high school graduates will receive an associate’s degree in two years and then head off to a four-year institution. But for Brighttany Pollitt, that process took 15 years, with marriage, divorce and the loss of an infant son along the way.
Pollitt will be one of more than 340 graduating students who will be receiving their associate’s degrees this evening from Danville Area Community College. She says she wanted to break the barriers for her two children, which is why she is now going back to school. Pollitt credits Danville High School Principal Tracy Cherry as a role model in her educational journey:
Audio Player“Ms. Cherry has just been an amazing woman, and I’m so excited because she’s on the board at DACC, and she was also the person that handed me my high school diploma, so now I’m going to walk on stage at DACC and she’ll be on the board there,” she says.
Pollit, who is a home visitor with Aunt Martha’s Health Center, says that she wants to work in the area of mental health. She says she has gone through the same problems herself, and she wants to help others with their current needs.
Audio Player“I know with disparities and with trials of life, with people that are just broken, from broken families, they get put in a category, and I just want to break the stigma of mental health at to support people where they’re at,” she explains.
Pollitt is currently working on a bachelor’s degree through online classes at Eastern Illinois University.
