40-Year-Old Mother of 3 Goes From Inmate to Princeton Intern
A Former Inmate
Woman goes from inmate to Princeton intern.
Photo by Nick Fewings on UnsplashMary McCrary is a 40-year-old mother of three who spent three years in prison. According to Good Morning America, she served time at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville for a parole violation following a conviction for aggravated burglary.
McCrary dropped out of high school in Grade 10 and has since successfully pursued her GED, but it wasn’t until prison that she began thinking about further education. She hit a breaking point behind bars and decided it was time to turn her life around.
“When you get to a point where you're tired and don’t even want to live and you're hopeless and you feel useless and worthless, you have a decision to make,” she told the publication.
“I made the decision to use this time to do something different, to change my life, because I didn’t want to keep doing the same things and getting in trouble and ... doing whatever I had to to survive because it gets you in the exact same place.”
So, McCrary enrolled in a coding class as part of the center’s Persevere program, an initiative aimed at helping inmates earn certifications as front-end or full-stack web developers.
“The class alone made you feel like you’re a human being, that I was working towards something, that there is a goal in sight, I am going to accomplish something, and I did,” she added. “That does give you confidence and hope.”
A Life-Changing Opportunity
For the next six months, McCrary earned her certificate in front-end coding. She decided to develop her skills even more by enrolling at Nashville State Community College, which offers a program for inmates.
This past May, McCrary was granted parole, completed her supervision, and earned extra credits toward an associate’s degree. But not even she could anticipate what would happen next: an internship at Princeton.
The nine-week program is meant for formerly incarcerated undergrad students to gain experience and new opportunities, and so far, McCrary is excelling.
“Her dedication to building her future is evident in how she does not shy away from challenges and the unknown,” Bridgett vonHoldt, an associate professor at Princeton and the head of the internship program said. “She is a role model, demonstrating for anyone who thinks such change is impossible that nothing is impossible.”
As for McCrary, she knows this is an incredible opportunity and hopes the internship is the next step toward earning her AA degree back in Nashville.
“This has been life-changing in more ways than one. This is an unbelievable, sometimes overwhelming experience,” she said. “If you look at my past, it's a crazy shamble mess, but look now, look what can happen. Nothing is ever impossible.”
Second Chances
McCrary hopes to be a role model for those who are having a hard time accepting the idea of a brighter future and so far, she certainly is. She’s a great example of how things can get better and you can change your future when you’re willing to take advantage of the opportunities you have — even if they don’t seem like opportunities at the time.
This story is also a needed reminder that everyone deserves a second chance in life and that sometimes, by allowing someone who has messed up the chance to try again, they may surprise you.
No one is perfect, and everyone stumbles. It’s not how hard we fall that truly matters in life; it's how we pick ourselves back up. But it’s also up to us whether we want to be the person who lends someone on the ground a helping hand or if we want to be the guy who just keeps on walking.
7 Signs You Are Destined for Greatness
From an early age, I knew I was destined to do– or be– something great.
Little did I know at the time that everyone thinks the same thing. It’s a universal feeling inside of us, a recognition of our potential as human beings to be and do something incredible.
We’ve all been given unique and amazing abilities and talents that can help us realize greatness. However, over time society bludgeons us with discouraging ideas, to the point where we stop believing in ourselves. Well, I’m here to tell you that you have greatness in you.
No matter who you are, if you’re a human being living today you have greatness within you -- you just have to start believing it.
I don’t pretend to be a success expert or a seer of any kind. However, there are certain things that signal someone is destined for greatness, factors I’ve identified over years of studying success principles.
Here are seven signs you’re destined for greatness:
1. You’re resourceful
Do you always seem to figure out a way to make things happen, no matter what you’re faced up against? That’s a sign you’re naturally resourceful, an incredibly useful skill for achieving virtually everything in life.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos considers it one of the most important qualities for success, so if you’ve got this critical skill in common with the world’s wealthiest person, you know you’re destined for greatness.
2. You’re a natural problem-solver
Similar to resourcefulness, if you’re a natural problem-solver, you were practically made to be an entrepreneur. However, beyond that, being a natural problem-solver is a sign you’re destined for greatness no matter what you do.
That’s because problem-solving is critical to virtually everything we do, from overcoming common day-to-day challenges that hinder your productivity to figuring out that next big business idea by identifying problems and thinking of creative solutions in the form of a product or service.
3. Nothing stops you from accomplishing your goals
Are you the kind of person who always finishes what she starts? If you always complete what you set out to do no matter what happens, and never allow yourself to settle or quit on your goals, you possess one of the most valuable qualities a person can have -- and a key to realizing greatness in any endeavor.
4. You’re relentlessly persistent
If you’re the kind of person who gets up every time you get knocked down, and pushes forward through rain or shine, that’s a definite sign you’re destined for greatness.
Persistence is a quality that virtually all wildly successful people display. The level of rejection, failure, and setbacks one inevitably faces has to be weathered in order to achieve greatness. Persistence helps you maintain the energy necessary to get there.
5. You’re not afraid of asking questions
Realizing greatness requires self-development, and self-development requires that you be willing and unafraid to ask questions. It’s as simple as that. If you’re the kind of person who isn’t afraid to raise your hand in a class setting, and you possess the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone, then you very well may be destined for greatness.
6. You never fail
By not failing, I’m referring to not viewing failure as a setback. If you treat failure like a building block, a valuable learning experience that moves you further forward towards your dreams and goals, then you may very well be bound for greatness.
This is easily one of the most important qualities of all, so if this doesn’t naturally describe you, don’t worry, it’s a quality you can develop with time and effort. Just look for the lessons in each so-called “failure” to see what you can take away.
7. You understand that change is in your hands
Many believe that people– and the world at large– can’t be changed, that we’re all somehow stuck blowing in a great big wind called fate and have little to no say about what happens to us. This is not only a damaging belief, it’s fundamentally wrong.
If you understand that change is in your hands, that’s a healthy sign you’re destined for greatness because you understand that you have your hands on the wheel, and naturally look for ways to improve and move forward. You can decide to make a difference not only in your own life, but also in the life of others.