College and Career Readiness Blog

At 62 years old, Christina Stephens proves it’s never too late to chase your dreams.  After leaving high school her senior year to care for her family following her mother’s passing.  Christina devoted more than 40 years to raising eight children and working to provide for them.  At 61, after bravely beating stage 3 cancer, she made the life-changing decision to do something just for herself and enrolled in Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute’s High School Equivalency program.  Convinced it would take years to complete, Christina amazed herself by achieving her goal in less than 10 months.  Now, she is pursuing an Associate in Arts-Teacher Preparation degree at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute with hopes of inspiring future students to see that age is only a number when it comes to education.  Christina’s journey from teenage caregiver to cancer survivor to future educator is a powerful reminder that every chapter of life can hold new beginnings and that our dreams never come with an expiration date.