Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Stephanie's 4-year-old says his mommy is going to learn her ABCs right along with him.
When Bruce begins kindergarten in the fall, his mom, a Warsaw resident and recipient of WHA Section 8 assistance, will start classes at Grace College.
Stephanie is a success story of the WHA programs, says WHA director Vicki Provine. With two semesters already done at IPFW, during which she maintained a 3.5 GPA, Stephanie has been accepted to study at Grace College.
"It's something I always wanted to do," she said. Stephanie said it wasn't until she moved to Warsaw that she thought she could actually go to college. But with the responsibilities of being a single parent it was impossible.
Bruce is 4 going on 14, Stephanie said. "He thinks it's neat that I'm going back to school," she said.
Grace was the perfect choice for her because of the location. Next year she would have had to start driving to Fort Wayne for classes - something she didn't want to do. The drive would have taken two hours off every day - two hours she could have been spending with Bruce, at her full-time job, or studying.
The assistance of the WHA will allow Stephanie to take classes and still meet the needs of her two-person household, according to Katharine Walker, WHA representative.
Stephanie estimates it would take 10 to 15 years to do it on her own. With the assistance she can afford to pay her rent, pay bills and go to college.
But the drive to succeed doesn't come from WHA; Walker said the push comes from inside Stephanie. She has been driven to improve her situation since she started with WHA a year ago, taking classes the entire time she has been receiving assistance.
Steph has also taken advantage of other opportunities: Taking part in the support group at Beaman Home, using the family self-sufficiency program to learn how to help herself improve her situation.
At first, she wasn't sure if she could do it. "It was something that I just threw out there," Steph says. "And people around me kept pushing me to do it."
