Once the anxiety of finding a job is over, it is easy to settle into a position. If one can find a way to live off the income and manage the workload of the new job, it can be easy to stay in that position for years.

Jo Linda Cooper had settled into a position at National Spinning.

“Money is not everything. It means a lot to work at a place where you’re treated well,” she said. She was able to make ends meet and enjoyed the people with whom she worked. Then, one day, National Spinning shut its doors. A 20-year career was suddenly over.

Cooper met Clay Carter, an employee of Beaufort County Community College in charge of human resources development. Carter worked with displaced workers whose jobs had been moved overseas and trained them to engage with the workforce with a new set of skills. Starting at BCCC in 2004, she got a number of associate degrees, including an Associate in General Education, Associate in Arts and Associate in Science.

“I was anxious when I first got (to BCCC),” she said. Cooper started college years ago at N.C. State thinking she wanted to go into teaching, but finances got in the way.

During her career at National Spinning, she helped her nieces apply to colleges and started to think about it as an option for herself. When the doors closed at the factory, her choice became clear.

Online classes were new to her, but she took some deep breaths and met the challenge head-on. She met students along the way who were in her situation. Their reasons for returning to school aligned with hers.

Referring to the difference between taking classes at this point in her life and when she was fresh out of high school, she said, “You’re more disciplined than when you’re younger.”

It took her years to achieve these degrees, finishing up her Associate in Arts in 2011.

During this time she started working at the college to help support her family while she attended classes. She began by working as an office assistant. When a position opened up at the main switchboard, she transferred there. She stepped up her involvement at the college when she was elected the president of the BCCC Staff Association, along with being a BCCC ambassador.

Employees were also allowed to take a class for free, so she plugged one last class in her schedule to achieve an Associate in Science degree. The Associate in Arts degree allowed her to transfer to Wesleyan College, where she finished up her bachelor’s degree. All of her credits transferred smoothly.

At first, her classes were seated classes, stretching into the evenings. Later, they shifted to more online classes. The time she invested in her education paid off when she finished this spring with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and psychology, earning summa cum laude in both.

Cooper is not the first in her family to work at the college. Her father worked as a custodian in the building where she now works. Since 2006, Cooper has been the office manager for the Arts and Sciences Department.

Having graduated from the college makes her an asset to current students. She can offer students help that they might not get from other employees. “The college had more resources (for students) than we knew,” she said.

Cooper tells students, “Work together with other students. Use your resources. Use your books. People are here to help you.” She encourages students to ask questions and to communicate to instructors about any obstacles they are facing.

Now, for people in Cooper’s position, returning to college will be easier due to a new program at BCCC called “Yes! You Can.” The program awards credit for prior learning to students who are returning to college, or starting after spending time in the workforce.

Previous training, certificates and veteran experience can count toward a degree. This means students can earn a degree faster and with less cost than before.

Thinking back on her initial fears about returning to college, Cooper smiles and says, “Compared to live, school is a piece of cake.”