Leitha Rogers

WIA Youth Services

Watch Leitha’s Video.

At fifteen, Leitha became involved in the juvenile justice system.

At seventeen, she was pregnant, and by the second semester of her senior year, she dropped out of school.

After giving birth to her son, she quickly realized that in order to make the best life for her small family, she would have to make some major changes in her life. That’s when she came to Goodwill’s WIA Youth Services (funded by Workforce Solutions–Capital Area).

Leitha knew that education was the key to being able to provide a decent life for herself and her infant son. With the help of her Goodwill Case Manager, Vanessa Nnanna, she immediately began to work toward getting her GED.

“You get out what you put in,” said Leitha. “I recommend the program to everybody I talk to, but you can’t make anybody do it, they have to want to do it for themselves.”

At one point in her life, Leitha had been a major support system for her mother and younger brother, who has a disability. She had the motivation to be successful, but she needed the right tools. Only a few weeks after coming to Goodwill, she became the very first person in her class to earn her GED. Building on this achievement, she decided to pursue a career in the medical field.

“Leitha’s determination and motivation are truly inspiring,” said Vanessa Nnanna. “She is a mature, hard-working single mother that never expects things. Instead, she is grateful for the assistance the program can provide. She looks for a hand up, not a handout—that fuels her ambition to reach her personal and educational goals. ”

In order to reach her long-term goals, Leitha first needed to become a Certified Nursing Assistant. After receiving her certification, she quickly found employment at a nursing home. Committed to improving her skills even further, and working toward reaching her goal to become a sonographer, she enrolled in classes at Austin Community College.

At the age of just twenty, Leitha’s achievements are the result of her drive to provide a better future for herself and her son by seizing the opportunity offered by Goodwill. What could so easily have been a cycle of poverty has been broken, and Leitha is well on her way to fulfilling her dreams.

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