Part of Western Governors University
Anitra wishes her story wasn’t as common as it is. After a difficult childhood, at 19 she was completely on her own, and ostracized from her family and religious community. Time after time she was hit with challenges, from illness to identity theft to homelessness. But she continued with a sense of hope even though she didn’t always understand.
Anitra enrolled at WGU in 2015, and finally found her family of allies. When she couldn’t afford gas to go to school, her co-workers chipped in. When she was faced with withdrawing because she couldn’t pay tuition, her WGU mentor helped her secure scholarships. And when she lost hope, they inspired it again.
It’s that support that finally broke her out of a cycle of struggle. “I’ll never be able to pay it back. All I can do is pay it forward,” Anitra says, having successfully earned her nursing degree.