Speaker’s Personal Examples Show VGCC WIA Participants How They Can Succeed

Vance-Granville Community College’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program honored participants who have completed their goals at a dinner May 18 at the college.

Andy Anderson, a motivational speaker from Whiteville, was the principal speaker for the program. He used himself as an example of someone who overcame a difficult beginning to succeed in life. As a youth, he suffered from attention deficit disorder, stuttered, and was raised in a family that did not value education.

Anderson said he had a high school counselor that saw something in him and challenged him to strive for better things in life. “I was validated through school, and my life changed,” he said. “I discovered I was somebody.”

As he began to believe in himself, Anderson said he began to plan for the future. He went off to N.C. Central University and excelled. “My senior year, I lived part of the time in an old car and studied by flashlight,” he said. “But people who intervened in my behalf had manifested faith in me, and I could not, would not let them down.”

Today, Anderson is chief executive officer of a healthcare company with 1,700 employees. He was the first African-American elected to the Whiteville City Council, and he serves as chairman of the Workforce Development Board of that town.

“I have learned that people want to live, to learn, to love and be loved and to leave a legacy,” Anderson said.

He mentioned talking at dinner with two of the WIA participants, Stacey Smith and Shirley Burwell, and learning what they plan to do. He heard how good the WIA people at Vance-Granville are and how they are intervening in people’s lives, just as people did in his.

VGCC President Randy Parker praised the 154 participants who are enrolled in the WIA program. He issued them a two-part challenge: to always strive for excellence and improve 1 percent every day, and to give back to the community, to one’s family and to mankind.

The honorees included 40 participants in the Achievement Through Curriculum (ACT) program, 17 of whom graduated from VGCC May 12. There were also nine On-the-Job Training participants and 20 Work Experience participants honored at the dinner.

One ACT participant, Jameshia Johnson, earned a bachelor’s degree from Bennett College this year.

WIA is a federally-funded program to help the under-trained achieve success. Funds for the program are administered locally by the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments.

Sylvia Jones is the Vance-Granville coordinator of the WIA program. She and her staff presented certificates to those who achieved the goals they set when they entered the program.

WIA SPEAKER

– Andy Anderson of Whiteville tells participants in the Vance-Granville Community College Workforce Investment Act program recognition dinner how he overcame numerous obstacles to succeed in life.

(VGCC Photo)