Amanda Stevenson walked across the stage Saturday afternoon at the Florence Civic Center to receive her high school diploma.
This fall Stevenson will be attending Erskine College in Due West with scholarships totaling $140k.
After being rejected for a presidential scholarship at Erskine, she got an even better offer and personal call the same night.
“The same day they sent my award letter and they called me telling me i didn’t get the scholarship but the award letter was just as good as the scholarship so it’s kind of like a bad day and then a good day,” said Stevenson.
With a heart set on smaller colleges, Stevenson says the opportunity became a life changing experience.
I was on top of the world that they were giving me that much money.
The scholarship was a sigh of relief for a mother of three.
“It takes the burden of having to come up with a lump some of money in order for her to further her education”, stated Stevenson’s mother, Esonya Woodberry.
Stevenson says she was 13 years-old when she and her younger sister Maya became big sisters to their adopted brother Shawn.
“She is setting a good example for her younger sister which is going to the 10th grade, which will be a sophomore at Wilson and her younger brother 4 years-old, they really look up to her,” says Woodberry.
An experience that inspired Stevenson to become a family law attorney
“I plan to major in political science and once I finish my four years at Erskine I’ll go on to law school in hopes of becoming an attorney specializing in family law,” mentioned Stevenson.
One step closer to her dreams .
“It really is such a blessing to know that their giving me money to go to their school so I could further my education and reach my goals so its really just a blessing,”said Stevenson.
Esonya Woodberry is a Wilson High graduate of “84”, she says she always knew there was something special about her daughter.
