This fall, Tamika McNeil will move a step closer to fulfilling her dream of becoming a nurse when she enrolls in Brunswick Community College.
But she acknowledges it's a step she could never have taken had it not been for a program that helped her fill in an important missing piece of her education.
The 26-year-old single mother of three said she was halfway through her senior year of high school when she moved from New Jersey to North Carolina. She intended to enroll in school locally, but never did.
As is the case with many other high school dropouts who become parents, after her children were born, the responsibilities of childrearing soon pushed her plans of completing high school into the background.
Then, a little more than a year ago, she picked up a flier about a special program that offers educational opportunities not just to parents but to their children as well.
For Ms. McNeil, the Family Literacy Program has made a difference in not just her life, but also the life of her 2-year-old daughter Malicha.
Each day, while her other two children were at school, Ms. McNeil and her youngest child would set off for school -- together.
While Ms. McNeil was learning the material she needed to get her GED, Malicha was across the hall learning her ABCs.
Family Literacy Director Tamela Jones said sending parents with an incomplete education to school along with their children makes good economic and social sense.
"It breaks the cycle," she said of the program, which is a cooperative effort of Brunswick County Communities In Schools, Brunswick Community College and Brunswick County Partnership for Children.
Ms. Jones said a typical day in the program begins with the parents and children being picked up together for school. After arriving, they both enjoy a hot lunch courtesy of the school system before being hustled off to class.
The level of education is tailored for individual students -- regardless of age. Ms. Jones said some students like Ms. McNeil arrive lacking just a few courses toward their diploma while others come to the program without even basic literacy skills. The children -- accepted from birth to age 7 -- receive an age-appropriate curriculum that includes parental involvement.
"After lunch we have PACT time -- that is, parent and child interaction time," Ms. Jones said. "The parents go in and whatever center their child wants to play in is where they go. The child decides, and the parents follow."
Ms. Jones said the joint activities promote bonding backed up with parenting classes.
But getting a better, more educated parent is just one of the benefits the children enjoy. Ms. Jones said the program also gives the children needed social interaction in a setting where any developmental disabilities -- if detected -- can get early intervention.
Since it began in October 1999, the Brunswick County Family Literacy Program has graduated 19 students like Ms. McNeil, who -- although she earned her GED in September - is sticking with the program to prepare for college assessment exams.
She said she is not only proud to be moving ahead, but also proud to be part of a program that allows her to set a good academic example for her children.
"My older two now know that you have to work hard at schooling," she said. "My teachers helped me a lot. I couldn't have done it without them."