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Katie Watkins, a standout Storm volleyball player for two years, now spends her free time studying to be a nurse at DCCC where she says she applies some of the concepts she learned on the court.
“Just like volleyball, nursing can be tough,” said Watkins, a 21-year-old who works in teams with her classmates in problem-based nursing exercises. “I learned that everyone has different strengths and brings something different to the table. I also learned that we have to respect each other.”
Watkins is a May 2012 candidate to receive her Associate Degree in Nursing. She hopes to pursue her B.S.N. at Winston-Salem State University and eventually get her master’s degree in nursing.
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 Kimani Hunt, 19, a Dean’s List student at Davidson County Community College, is a standout 6’5” player on the DCCC Storm basketball team who serves as a role model for other students both on and off the court. With a 3.692 grade point average for the fall 2010 semester and a cumulative basketball point total of 765 as of Feb.18h, Hunt’s academic excellence and athletic abilities attract attention. Recently, he caught the attention of recruiters from the University of Northwestern Ohio who offered him a full scholarship there to play basketball. Named to the 1st team All Freshmen in 2009-2010, Hunt served on the 2009-2010 Region X and District H Championship teams, and he played with the Storm in last year’s 2010 NJCAA National Championship tournament. “Kimani Hunt has been a leader for us the last few years both on and off the court,” said DCCC Storm Head Coach Matt Ridge. “His high standard of excellence has helped us win many games, but it’s also helped him achieve a lot of success in the classroom, and we are certainly proud of him.” Ken Kirk, DCCC’s director of athletics and wellness, agrees. “Kimani is a kind and considerate student athlete. He helps tutor other players who look up to him as an academic leader, he communicates well with other students as well as the Storm fans, and he represents DCCC so well wherever he goes.” Hunt graduated from Riverside High School in Durham before enrolling at DCCC. He hopes to pursue a career in sports management.
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 Shane Noah is a full-time college student, scholarship recipient, volunteer tutor, Dean’s List student every semester, husband and father. All these titles accurately describe Shane Noah, a high-achieving May 2011 DCCC graduation candidate majoring in Networking Technology.
Noah, who is from High Point, plans to continue his higher education at East Carolina University upon graduation from DCCC. His career goal is to become a corporate network administrator. He won the North Carolina Computer Instructor’s Association Scholarship after he was nominated by Ann Porter, his DCCC instructor.
Porter said she was impressed at everything Noah accomplishes, including earning several professional certifications and still making time to tutor other students in her classes as well as others in the information technology area.
“Shane Noah helps other students troubleshoot software and hardware issues not only in networking classes but other information technology courses while maintaining a positive, professional attitude. He goes above and beyond the minimum requirements of an assignment while being a full-time student.”
Noah earned professional certifications in A+, NET+ and Security+ in 2010-2011 and will receive his CCNA certification in the summer. In addition, he implemented the deployment of Windows 7 using Server 2008 in the DCCC computer lab without the help of instructors. He also documented the procedure with step-by-step video and written instructions to help others get through the procedure.
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Andrea Packer -
 Without the prestigious DCCC Presidential Scholarship she won in 2008, Andrea Packer, a 2010 DCCC honor graduate, says she doubts she would already be pursuing her baccalaureate degree from Catawba College. “I cannot say thank you enough to whomever paid for my education, and I am going to continue to do my best to make them happy that they invested in me,” she said.
Since August 2010, Packer, 20, has been working toward her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Catawba College, and she doesn’t have to leave DCCC’s Davidson Campus to do so. She said she likes the convenience of leaving her teaching assistant’s job in one DCCC building and walking only steps to her evening Catawba classes where she is taking history, statistics and education courses.
She anticipates graduating with a B.A. in Education from Catawba in December 2011 and then enrolling in the Master of Arts in Teaching program from Salem College, also offered on the Davidson Campus. Packer spends her days on the Davidson Campus working 29 hours a week as a teaching assistant for instructors in the DCCC Early Childhood Education program.
“Not only did receiving this scholarship make me study harder and be the best I could be, but it also allowed me to graduate in May 2010 with my associate degree totally paid for,” she said. “I couldn’t believe I had my first degree, and I was debt free. What a wonderful blessing!”
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Chris Mishak, who earned a degree in Medical Laboratory Technology from DCCC in 1998, is the second MLT graduate from DCCC to be accepted into physician assistant’s school.
In August 2011, Mishak will begin studying at Emory University in Atlanta to become a physician’s assistant.
 He says DCCC prepared him well to transfer to Winston-Salem State University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in clinical laboratory science in 2004. Since then, he has worked in the lab at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
“I learned pretty much everything that I needed to know about laboratory science at DCCC. Many of the clinical applications that I learned there I still use today either in my medical volunteering in phlebotomy or in the duties of my current job, which includes training new technologists on cell identification,” said Mishak.
“Though I graduated from an associate degree program, I felt that my instructors provided me with the same theory and knowledge as those students completing their bachelor’s degree program in clinical laboratory science,” Mishak added.
“When I started my clinical rotations at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, I felt that my formal education at DCCC prepared me to succeed at every challenge that I faced. Since I was the among first MLT students to rotate through WFUBMC, I think this strong foundation in laboratory science enabled me to dispel many of the preconceived ideas about MLTs regarding their education and what they are able to do.”
After a year working as a medical laboratory technician at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, he was promoted to a Hematology Analytical Specialist position. This involves oversight of the hematology, coagulation, and flow cytometry sections of the laboratory.
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As Quansheeba Kennedy reviews her DCCC transcript in preparation to transfer to Salem College, she can hardly believe she has a 3.3 grade point average and that she was accepted into the prestigious private college with a selective admissions policy. 
It took two false starts before the 22-year-old Thomasville resident found her true calling, elementary education, and more importantly, before she found and reaffirmed the value of herself. She thought back to when she was only 18 years old but felt “overwhelmed by life.” She had just graduated from high school when she was in a serious car accident.
“I almost killed myself, not by drinking and driving, not by partying, but because I was living a life that was overwhelming,” she said.
As Kennedy lay crumpled in her hospital bed following the accident, she realized that many of her wounds were invisible. “After the car accident, I suffered from low self-esteem and depression,” she said. “For years, I allowed someone I loved to physically, mentally and emotionally abuse me.”
She had previously tried taking a few DCCC classes, but said she was immature and not ready for academic challenge. She dropped out. After the accident, she returned to DCCC to take cosmetology classes. She left school a second time and began working as a certified nursing assistant. After yet another car accident, she felt unstable, hopeless, and didn’t know what to do.
After some serious soul-searching, Kennedy decided she was made for a purpose: to be successful and to fulfill who she was destined to be. She returned to DCCC “with determination and a mindset that I would not fail with God leading me.”
She says her first semester back was difficult. “I knew I could find refuge in the Student Success Program,” Kennedy said. “To my benefit, Ms. Gravely accepted me back. Because of my struggles and hard times, I seek a new beginning every day and don’t allow the past to cripple my future. I have learned to have self-value.”
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Alumni & Friends
