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Rising Star, Youth Services Program (January 2010)

When Britney Goucher came to Goodwill, she was uncertain about her future and wary about the benefits that education had to offer her. Now, she is working toward major educational and life goals that she has set for herself, eager to reach for more.

Britney came to Goodwill through the WIA Youth Services Program, funded by Workforce Solutions—Capital Area, in September of 2007, as a high school student at-risk for dropping out due to truancy. Discouraged by the amount of credits required for her to graduate, she continued to struggle with finding the motivation to attend her classes and was eventually withdrawn from school for attendance. Once she was connected with her Goodwill Case Manager she learned that, with a little hard-work, she could achieve her high school degree. Her first year of classes proved to be challenging because she had not taken her Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests, was still lacking credits for her grade level and was having transportation problems. Working together with other community partners, her Case Manager helped connect her with the resources, including tutoring assistance and help obtaining and navigating public transportation.

With a renewed sense of hope, she enrolled in summer school to catch up on her school credits. Her hard work, dedication and the extra support from her Case Manager allowed her to bring up her grades and earn all her credits to gain high school senior classification. She was also able to obtain a paid internship to gain experience in building green homes.

The support from Britney’s Case Manager was integral, “having someone there to really push me, somebody that was always with me,” made all the difference for her.

With support from Goodwill, Britney not only graduated in June 2009, she also gained internship experience and developed a new found interest in becoming a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA). Her Case Manager connected her to the resources she needed, and she was able to successfully obtain her certification. Motivated by her academic achievements, she is currently hard at work pursuing a job in the medical field and hopes to one day become a Registered Nurse.