Graduation December 2016!!








Hello, my name is Cassandra McGowan and I am 24 years old. I am currently enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University as a Senior.  I have been in school since August 2010 trying to obtain a Computer Science degree from the College of Engineering. It has taken me a little longer than I expected after having my son when I was a 19 year old Sophomore. I chose to stay in school and not go back home to live with my parents  because finishing what and where I started meant so much to me. It has not been easy, I've had to work full time and go to school part time, work part time and go to school full time and some semesters I wasn't able to attend school at all.  This semester I can finally see and all the classses I need to graduate are checked off of my curriculum, but it wouldn't be life if something unplanned didn't come up. I stopped receiving Financial Aid from school about a year ago due to the fact that my attempted hours exceeded my completed hours so I have been paying for school through State Fundenhhprograms or from out of pocket. For the Fall Semester of 2016 my school bill was setup to be paid by a State funded program called NCWorks. I passed all the requirements and was set to have my classes paid for the week school began, but on the first day of class (August 17) I received an email from my case worker stating the Board of Directors wouldn't be able to pay for any more student's tuition for the year. I was so devastated because I had been praying that everything would go smoothly for school. I am not giving up hope for finishing school this year and I'm confident that something will work out. Graduating College means so much to me because I want to be able to take care of my son and myself without the assistance of Government programs or other's finances. I am confident that I would be able to find a job in no time being an African American Woman in the STEM field.  I really want to finish what I started and be able to be self sufficient. I have to pay for my classes by September 1 and that is the furthest extension the University is allowing me to have.  Any and every donation is GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you and God bless.