Katie eventually found her collegiate footing the following spring after graduation. Still undecided about what to study, she followed in her sibling’s footsteps and enrolled at Orange Coast College (OCC). “We all went there together. Whatever class they took, I took,” laughs Katie. While high school had come relatively easy for Katie, she failed to have the same success at OCC. Immature and preoccupied with having fun, Katie didn’t take her studies seriously. After only a few semesters, she became pregnant and dropped out of school. Within two years, she found herself married with two young children, trying to keep her life together while juggling the demands of motherhood and her husband’s drug addiction. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce, landing Katie’s soon-to-be ex-husband in prison and Katie in single parenthood, spiraling to figure out a path forward.
With a family to support and an incomplete college education, Katie transitioned from part- to full-time work as a server at Ruby’s Diner at South Coast Plaza. Still living with her parents, she worked her way up to general manager, earning the company’s coveted Team Member of the Year and Ruby’s All-Star awards. The recognition at Ruby’s was nice, says Katie, but it wasn’t enough. The strenuous work, lack of vacation time, and constant stress of paycheck-to-paycheck living kept her from being more present in her children’s lives. “It started to be like weight; a lot of trying to do everything to overcompensate,” recalling the imbalance between her work and home life.
While still battling thoughts of regret and “wasted potential,” as she calls it, Katie shifted to focus on her family. “I returned to serving part time and homeschooled my children for about five years.” Though she was trying hard to do the right thing for her children, Katie was scraping by financially, still living in her childhood home, while deep down inside, she still wanted more out of life.
The Gift
When the COVID-19 work closures occurred, Katie, now in her forties, was already at her breaking point and feeling trapped. Though she had invested more than twenty years working, she had no retirement savings to fall back on and no relief in sight. With her “good working years behind her,” she says, COVID gave her the much-needed break she needed to reflect and reset. “It was the first time that I had a vacation. It was the first time I stopped working and grinding,” continued Katie.
The COVID shelter-in-place mandate also gave Katie a fork-in-the-road moment: to take a chance on a new future or stay in her stable yet stagnant position. She chose chance. “God gifted me with a break, and I couldn’t waste it,” recalls Katie about her decision not to return to Ruby’s after it reopened. Instead, she enrolled at Santa Ana College (SAC), and though she didn’t have a plan this time either, she had something better—a mission.
After years of barely making ends meet, says Katie, “I told my counselor I want a job where I will use my mind.” Based on her management skills from Ruby’s, the counselor suggested business classes, specifically accounting. The courses were online, but Katie felt connected in a way she never had before. “My accounting professor saw something in me. He said you’re really good at accounting and have a gift.”
“After I dusted off the cobwebs in my brain and reacquainted myself with myself, I started to flourish. That girl I had shoved so far down inside of me slowly came back to life,” she says. When self-doubt crept in sometimes, Katie pressed on. “Every now and then, my confidence would waiver, but when it did, Santa Ana College was there to pick me back up and help me keep going.”
“The professors, the counselors, and literally every single person I interacted with at Santa Ana College supported me.” Her parents also chipped in helping to pay for her son’s senior year in high school, so she could focus on pursuing her degree. She also received support through the Santa Ana College Foundation in the form of scholarships, including The Allan & Sandy Fainbarg Scholarship.
“Being awarded that particular scholarship felt personal for me because the entire time I was at Santa Ana College, I wasn’t working and relied on the college to fill in the gaps for me and my kids,” says Katie. “I regularly shopped at the Thrive Center, a free on-campus grocery store, that ironically was also sponsored by the Fainbargs.”
Katie continues, “when I was chosen to receive their scholarship, it was so much more than money for me. It was a gentle nudge to keep moving forward, a loving reminder that I wasn’t alone, and a tender approval for hopefulness. I felt seen and cared for, and I had this renewed urgency to show my supporters the fullness of my gratitude by not letting them down or allowing their generosity to go to waste.”
On an Honor Roll
Katie took full advantage of the support she received and thrived at SAC. Today, she is a proud SAC alumna and California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Business Administration student.
“Now I’m the person pushing other people to do what I did, because it opened doors for me and made my life so different,” says Katie about SAC. Now in her mid-40s, Katie has returned to her rightful place as an academic standout, joining CSUF’s Accounting Honor Society, Beta Alpha Psi, making the Dean’s Honor List, and accepting an internship at a Big Four accounting firm.
“Santa Ana College was the best thing that ever happened to me,” exclaims Katie.” I felt so supported at SAC. It showed me there’s more to shoot for, and I’m so grateful.”
In addition to her experience at SAC, Katie recently had another life-changing event: moving out of her childhood home. Recently, she became the first-ever park host for the city of Santa Ana, managing and living on the grounds of Thorton Park, which just so happens to be less than five miles away from where her second chance journey bloomed at Santa Ana College.
With her children, Thomas and Juliette(not pictured), now young adults and uber proud of the woman and scholar she has become, Katie is embracing putting herself first.
If Katie’s story were a balance sheet, she would most certainly come out in the green. Katie’s value for education never depreciated. With a consistent allocation of hope and hard work multiplied by the vital asset of SAC’s supportive community of counselors, professors, and donors, Katie continues to prove that determination always adds up to success.
