RCC Excellence Award Winner: "My Success Began with Failure"
ASHEBORO (May 7, 2010)
TOP: Dr. Scott Ralls (left to right), president of the North Carolina Community College System; Donna Camp, Randolph Community College Academic Excellence Award winner; and Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, chair of the State Board of Community Colleges.
BOTTOM: Dignitaries (front, center), Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, chair of the State Board of Community Colleges, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, Governor Beverly Perdue, and Dr. Scott Ralls, president of the N.C. Community College System, are pictured with recipients of the Academic Excellence Awards, Dallas Herring Achievement Award, Governor Robert W. Scott Student Leadership and Art Excellence Award, on the steps of the Executive Mansion during a reception held recently.
Sophia resident Donna Reynolds Camp said she always regretted quitting high school. "It was the biggest mistake of my life," said Camp recently after reaching an academic milestone following her decision to go back to school. She was named Randolph Community College's Academic Excellence Award winner for 2010 and represented RCC at the North Carolina Community College System Excellence Event in Raleigh recently.
"Growing up, I always felt like a failure," said Camp, whose home life included an abusive father. She was even bullied when she was at school. "I remember watching as other children were inducted into the Beta Club," she said. "I longed to be one of those children, but never was, because all I could concentrate on was surviving." She and her three brothers and one sister all eventually quit school and went to work.
The years went by and Camp married and had children, but couldn't forget about not finishing school. She worked at Klaussner Furniture in the border department on the zipper team. She tried to earn her GED through classes offered at the Klaussner plant, "but I just couldn't do it. My kids were small and it just wasn't the time." After working at Klaussner for about 20 years, there was a layoff. The first one didn't affect Camp, but a friend was laid off and used worker retraining funds to return to school. Camp thought, "I can do that." So when the next layoff came, Camp enrolled in the General Educational Development (GED) program at RCC and finished in December 2008. She immediately enrolled in credit classes in RCC's Healthcare Management Technology program.
Her number one goal after enrolling at RCC was to be inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. "I reached that goal on Nov. 4, 2009," she said. "When the chance came up for me to apply for the Academic Excellence Award, I thought momentarily about not doing it. But I thought there was just a slim chance I might get chosen, and I did!" she said. All full-time RCC students who had completed 32 hours in a degree-seeking program and had a GPA between 3.75 and 4.0 had the option to apply. Applicants had to submit a 1-2 page essay describing their success stories and submit a faculty letter of recommendation. A committee of RCC faculty and staff members chose the winning student.
Camp took her mother and husband with her to Raleigh for the awards dinner and tour of the Governor's Mansion. "I wanted to take my Mom," said Camp. "She has been there for me through everything. It was just an awesome, wonderful day."
"Being back in school has really helped my self-esteem," said Camp, who has become a very active member of the PTK and recently spoke about her educational experiences to a group at RCC. "Going back to school was so frightening. Now that I'm here, it's not as frightening as it looked." She said that coming back to school has also provided her with a lot of friends. "From the first day on campus, I haven't ceased to make new friends. I never had friends in high school. Now I've got friends around every corner."
Camp has three grown children, two grandchildren, and a third on the way. "I always encouraged my children to graduate and they did. I accomplished that," she said. "My daughter actually graduated from the Radiography program at RCC in 2008…. But they are so proud of me. My daughter said she is going to throw me a big ole party when I graduate." Camp is on schedule to finish her associate degree in December, and she is already thinking about more. There is discussion that a four-year school might offer the junior and senior years of a Healthcare Management degree on RCC's campus. "If that happens, I would like to do that," she said. "Or I may do my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) after this."
Camp's husband, Alan, is an assistant minister at Totally Committed Ministries in Asheboro and works for The Timken Co. In addition to her school activities, Camp is active in the church where she sings in the praise and worship group.
