After being out of high school for over nineteen years and never taken a college class ever, I began to have trouble adapting to the college class environment and lacked self-confidence. I was starting to doubt whether I was really cut out or even smart enough for college. On the day of my math test, I left work about 1 ½ hours early to ensure I would not be late for my first test. They were striping the road from Cashiers to Cullowhee and therefore almost caused me to miss my first math test. Finally, I arrived extremely late at the school and took the test. I scored a fifty-nine on the test. I was ready to quit my life-long dream of becoming a nurse.

After a few days went by, I called Laurie Butler, Student Support Service Tutor Coordinator, to see about finding a tutor for math. With me working a full-time job and living in Cashiers, it was a difficult challenge for Ms. Butler to find me a tutor. When I was ready to give up, Ms. Butler called me to tell me that she had found someone to tutor me. Cristina Korb was my tutor and the answer to my prayers. She was an excellent tutor and helped me gain the self-confidence that I needed. With Cristina tutoring me, I was able to earn an “A” for the math course with hard work and determination. Since that first class, I have been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA in all of my classes.