No Longer on the Outside Looking In
For Carol Sterling, Calvin University was always in sight, but seemingly out of reach. She had been on campus before, but as a visitor, taking her kids trick or treating when they were young. But her view of campus came mostly from a distance. “I loved looking over there and I loved seeing all the students moving around, but I never thought I’d be a student there,” said Sterling.
For Sterling, getting into Calvin, affording it, and finding her fit all seemed to be barriers to entry.
So, more than 30 years after earning her GED, associate’s degree, and experiencing a lot of life, including becoming a mom as a teenager, Sterling was sitting in a waiting area at a local organization in her neighborhood. She saw a brochure on a table with the Calvin University logo on it. Her first thought: “I can’t get into Calvin.”
Starting a Journey
But, she picked it up. “I like to sit and look at papers when I sit around late at night,” said Sterling. “I literally had the brochure with me, and I hadn’t looked at it for maybe two weeks, and one night I picked it up and looked at it and it said, ‘go online if you were interested,’” said Sterling, “and the journey started there.”
“It caught me off guard, but I felt the Spirit lead me,” said Sterling. “I thought ‘this is you, Lord,’ because there were a few other things that had been leading up to it and everything had just been falling into place.”
Sterling applied and was accepted into the inaugural cohort of the Wayfinder Program, the state of Michigan’s first Clemente Course in the Humanities, which is a transformative jumpstart higher educational experience for adults facing economic and social barriers to higher education.
Taking Calvin Classes
Now, on Wednesday evenings from 6-9 p.m., she is among the 20 women who are meeting in the upstairs room in the Women’s Resource Center, taking Calvin University classes right in her neighborhood.
"Now when I look at this building it means something to me. We have something that’s helping us grow right within the community, a little hidden secret,” said Sterling.
“The staff and the professors, they are great. They’re not lenient. We’re in college, we are in university and the way they are teaching us we are learning a lot fast, and I didn’t know I’d be able to grasp on,” said Sterling. “And I’m excited about everything that I’m learning. I’m in my 50s and I’m still able to learn, and I’m happy and excited.”
Dreaming Bigger
For Sterling, the Wayfinder Program has opened up a door to a brighter future.
“After finishing the Wayfinder Program I want to continue on at Calvin University and earn a degree in social work/sociology,” said Sterling. “That’s my next goal. Pray for me that I get there.”
And her “why” for wanting this is not for “her,” but for the generations that come after.
Helping Others Dream Bigger Too
“I want to receive information so that I am able to talk young people, young mothers into wanting what I am receiving,” said Sterling. “I do see a lot of people give up, young people, especially in the community where I’m from, because they don’t have a why, and they don’t think that there is a why,” said Sterling. “I want to be able to go out and reach others so that I’m not the last and others can feel what I’m feeling. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Now when Sterling drives by the entrance to Calvin University off Burton Street she has a different perspective; she no longer sees herself as just a visitor looking in.
“I’m honored. I drive past and I tell my grandkids, I’m enrolled there,” said Sterling.
“They say, ‘really Grandma?!’ My grandson was very excited, and that humbled me to see the expression on his face. So, it gives me great honor to know we can be there.”
Interested in receiving more information about the program or want to apply to be part of a future cohort? Learn more about the Wayfinder program.
