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Featured photo: Blue Ridge Community College student Stephanie White (center) with President Dr. Laura Leatherwood and Success Coach Crystal Bradshaw at the North Carolina Community Colleges Awards Dinner and Celebration. (Photo courtesy of NC Community Colleges.)
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Blue Ridge Community College student Stephanie White shared her inspiring story on Thursday evening, April 3, at the North Carolina Community Colleges Awards Dinner and Celebration in Cary, North Carolina.
Co-hosted by the NC State Board of Community Colleges, NC Community College System, and the NC Community Colleges Foundation, the celebration’s audience included 230 guests from business, education, and government sectors. They heard White’s account of her experience at Blue Ridge which started shortly before Hurricane Helene.
“Sometimes life’s storms, both literal and personal, test us in ways we could never have imagined,” shared White. “Coming from a life of many struggles – from childhood trauma to addiction – I found my way into a recovery program in 2019. Later, I became a program mentor, and found a love and passion for helping others who have struggled.”
That love and passion led her to study at Blue Ridge. Though she was nervous to begin, she found inspiration in her five daughters and took the leap. White said she felt connection and security as soon as she met Success Coach Crystal Bradshaw and Human Services instructor Andrea Craven. She began her first semester at Blue Ridge in the Fall of 2024 with strength and confidence.
Then, in late September, Hurricane Helene literally upended her world.
“It pulled the trees right up from their roots, washed away our roads, created rockslides, and pushed heavy rain straight through the shingles of our rooftop, flooding water into the bedroom of my infant and toddler. We were stranded for weeks without power,” White said. “There was no water to make my daughter’s formula, and no way to communicate with family. Helicopters buzzed overhead day and night. Our food was limited. It would be weeks before help would come, so my fiance and I dug out the chainsaw and started slowly cutting our way down the mountain.”
After they eventually made their way to an area with a faint cell signal, a text alert from Blue Ridge came through saying the College was setting up a distribution center with supplies. White went straight there.
“I joined other students in getting anything and everything that my family needed. At the top of my list were baby bottles, formula, and diapers, which I was so thankful to find. But with cold weather setting in, I still needed to find dry, warm clothes for my children. The student services vice president, Kirsten Bunch, overheard me asking for clothes, and over the next few days, she somehow found them for us,” White said. “I thought I was losing my way in the storm, but that one extra step she took provided a reassurance that I desperately needed. We were going to be okay.”
Blue Ridge also offered Student Emergency Grants, which helped White pay the mortgage and begin repairing their home. She was able to return to class later that semester, and now she is almost halfway done with an associate degree in human services, specializing in addiction recovery.
“I see now that Blue Ridge didn’t just provide resources; they provided true empathy and connection. They also helped me keep the confidence that I worked so hard to gain,” White said. “I’m able to continue rebuilding my life inside and outside of school, and soon I’ll have the education I need to be part of the change I want to see in the world.”
White said the message of her story is that no matter how strong the storm may be, with a supportive community and the power of education, you can always rebuild.
Learn more about the Human Services program at Blue Ridge Community College at www.blueridge.edu/human-services.