Olivia Pate and Carrie Brazil, like most LLCC students, have faced challenges and hardships over the past two years as they worked to further their education.

When they learned that Molina Healthcare was offering several $10,000 scholarships to fully vaccinated college students with financial need, based on their creative responses to how they adapted during the pandemic, they decided to tell their stories. 

Carrie Brazil says she’s on the go from early to late. A single mother with teenagers at home, she works as a CNA in a long-term care facility in Jacksonville and also attends LLCC. Like Olivia, her eventual goal is to become a registered nurse. 

Carrie is currently in her second semester at LLCC, taking sociology and psychology classes online. She earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average in the fall and appreciates the support she has received. 

“LLCC has been helpful with all areas where I needed assistance and help with planning. The online classes fit my schedule, and my education is advancing my career goals. It helps to be able to be home with my kids if they have to quarantine or their school goes to remote learning.” 

Carrie struggled with loss just prior to the pandemic. “My mom passed the month before we were all shut down. She was the glue that kept all of us together. 

“Before the pandemic, my family was very busy and never home. We went from one sport to the next with no breaks in between. So when COVID-19 hit and we were forced to stay home, we had to adapt quite a bit. In the quarantine, we had to make three meals a day, every day. Another thing was we started taking two-mile walks when we finished online school. We found things to do together and spent more quality time with each other.”

She says she was “beyond ecstatic” to learn she was awarded the $10,000 scholarship, which she will apply to her education at LLCC. She says she learned an important lesson over the past two years. 

"If anything has come out of the pandemic, I learned it is not about me. It is about other people.”