Ten years ago, I was a 17-year-old girl with many dreams. I dreamed of getting a college education, of traveling the world, and of making a worthwhile contribution to society. Now, 10 years and two college degrees later, I have accomplished many of those dreams\u2014and that fact is undoubtedly thanks to The Ford Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Ford Family Scholarship, I was able to focus on my studies while getting my bachelor\u2019s degree at the University of Oregon rather than having to work long hours or spend a lot of time looking for more financial support. I did work for three of the four years that I studied, but because I didn\u2019t rely completely on the funds to pay for my education, I was able to choose jobs that developed my skills and were related to my interests.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Oregon and was chosen as outstanding senior female graduate by my professors.<\/p>\n

While at university, I studied abroad three times\u2014in South Korea, Italy and Ghana. These trips changed my entire perspective on the world.<\/p>\n

During my last trip to Ghana, which the Foundation financially supported, I learned about inequalities that I didn\u2019t know existed and decided to do something about it. I decided that because I had been so blessed with an education, I wanted to spend two years volunteering to pass my blessings forward.<\/p>\n

Because I didn\u2019t have student debt, I was easily able to save up money by serving as a substitute teacher in my hometown and return to Ghana to volunteer for a year. In addition to the various lessons I learned about the world, that year taught me about humility, kindness and community.<\/p>\n

For my second year of volunteering, I moved to Lewiston, Maine, to coordinate programs for Somali refugee families as an AmeriCorps volunteer. That year, while difficult, remains the time where I felt of most service to the world.<\/p>\n

After two years of volunteering, I began a master\u2019s program at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. The Foundation once again financially supported me on my educational endeavor.<\/p>\n

During my two-year stint as a master\u2019s student, I taught English and math to African refugee youth; aided university students of all levels in improving their writing at the Clark University Writing Center; served as an in-home caretaker for a university student with Asperger\u2019s syndrome; earned a Certificate in College Teaching; and graduated from my master\u2019s program with a 4.0 grade point average. Along the way, I was also the first recipient of the Granville-Abbas Fellowship, which involved serving as an intern in South Sudan during the summer it became a country.<\/p>\n

I graduated in May of 2012 and was able to make my dream of traveling around the world come true. Three days after graduating with my master\u2019s degree, I left for a nine-month trip. During the trip, I completed internships in Haiti, Switzerland and India and taught English in Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. I visited 15 countries and had the most incredible year of learning and growing that I have ever experienced.<\/p>\n

Upon moving back to my hometown of Klamath Falls, Ore., I attained a job at Klamath Community College\u2019s TRiO Program. In my new position, I serve people from backgrounds similar to mine\u2014low-income and first-generation college students\u2014in order to help them succeed in school. Some of the students I advise even have the Ford Family Scholarship. It is an incredible gift for me to be able to play a role in other students\u2019 educational journeys because I know first-hand what a difference support can make.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share my achievements since becoming a Ford Scholar because they don\u2019t only belong to me\u2014they belong to the Foundation, too. Every achievement since I was chosen as a Scholar and every achievement I will make in my lifetime can be attributed in some way to the Foundation. It not only supported me financially but believed I could change the world, which made me believe I could too.<\/p>\n

Thank you to the Foundation, from the bottom of my heart, for choosing me as a Ford Scholar, Class of 2003. Not only has it helped me to already achieve the dreams I set out to meet as a 17-year-old, but through my education and association with the Foundation, I have learned to dream greater things for both myself and for the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, I was a 17-year-old girl with many dreams. I dreamed of getting a college education, of traveling the world, and of making a worthwhile contribution to society. Now, 10 years and two college degrees later, I have accomplished many of those dreams\u2014and that fact is undoubtedly thanks to The Ford Family Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cassie-for-web.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8g73C-37","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":877,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fordscholaralumni.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}