TEXAS Adult & Family Literacy QUARTERLY

Success Stories

Doors of Possibilities

by Sarah DeSalvo

How likely is a young, single mother of four to ever begin college? How about someone whose education has reached only the ninth grade? Tammy Clements had these odds and more stacked against her by the time she was 21 years old.

Being the sole provider for a family of five was a mountain looming before her, and there was no going around it. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but she was even more certain that she wouldn’t let her children down.

Tammy was married and pregnant with her first child when she was only 15 years old. She moved to Germany with her husband and lived there off and on for the next six years. After they separated, she moved back to the States for good. Tammy’s mother helped with the children as much as she could, but unfortunately poor health often limited her.

For the next 10 to 15 years, Tammy bounced from job to job—mostly as a waitress—until finally she began working the admissions desk at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. Having a job with promotion possibilities prompted Tammy to contact the Literacy Council of Tyler (LCOT) and begin GED preparation classes.

One of the first people Tammy met at LCOT was Nancy Hill—Volunteer Coordinator at the time. She enrolled Tammy and remained a steady encouragement through the challenges at hand. The road was anything but easy for Tammy.

At one point, Tammy stopped coming to class because she was embarrassed about her struggles with math. Luckily, Ms. Hill managed to convince Tammy to come back to class. She told Tammy that it was very common for students to need extra help in math and that there was no need to be embarrassed. So, Tammy switched from a general GED preparation class into one that focused on math skills and found that the math class was exactly what she needed. In 2005, after only six months of classes, Tammy took and passed all sections of the GED. “She was my confidence builder every day,” Tammy says, referring to her LCOT math teacher. Tammy says that her teacher was always willing to go the extra mile for her students, and that she urged them all to reach their full potential. She encouraged Tammy to go to college, reminding her that college was not all about math. Before coming to LCOT, Tammy had never considered going to college, but once she passed her GED she found the self confidence to enroll.

Just two years later, Tammy received her associate degree from Tyler Junior College. She attributes much of her success to being enrolled in the TRiO program on campus (TRiO – Touching Lives Reaching Out Increasing Knowledge Open Doors - is a program designed to help promising students persist and succeed in college-level work), which consistently gave her the tutoring she needed. Tammy not only achieved what she thought she never could by going to college, she took 21 hours her last semester and graduated Cum Laude; she was also a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. That’s when Tammy learned a truth that has continued to serve her well.

“School isn’t about being the smartest person in the world. It’s about being the most persistent,” she says.

Tammy didn’t stop with an Associate degree. After receiving a scholarship, she immediately transferred to University of Texas at Tyler in 2007. Once again the TRiO tutoring program helped her in this potentially difficult transition. Tammy will be graduating from U.T. Tyler in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resources Development. She has applied to graduate programs at U.T. Tyler as well as Trinity University in San Antonio.

Tammy is proud of her children. Each of them is actively pursuing their educations, careers and self development before starting families of their own. She says college was never an expectation she had set for her children, but that changed when she completed her education and learned how it transforms your life.

Her oldest daughter is at Tyler Junior College. Her oldest son is living in Virginia and works as a trainer for a restaurant chain. Her youngest son is at the University of North Texas in Denton. Her middle son is in the Army in North Carolina, Fort Bragg. He served in Iraq for 15 months during heavy conflict.

Furthermore, Tammy reluctantly admits that she never voted in political elections until she got involved with LCOT. Now, she says she has a sense of ownership over her government and encourages everyone, especially women, to vote as often as possible.

Over the years, Tammy has gone from waiting tables to serving our community as Manager of Admissions Services at Trinity Mother Frances. Naturally, her pay has dramatically increased since her waiting days, but so has her self-esteem.

“Doors of possibilities open with an education,” Tammy says. After hearing her story, who could ever argue with that?

About the Author

Sarah DeSalvo is a journalism student at University of Texas at Tyler who has volunteered for the LCOT since April of 2005. While her summers are generally spent teaching English on mission trips overseas, during the school year she volunteers her time by helping LCOT share the stories of successful students like Tammy.