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Student Success: A Former Inmate Maps Out Her Future

For Andrea, FastForward has been nothing short of life changing. She was incarcerated for over eight years in a federal prison, and after serving her time, she knew she had to make a change. Thanks to funding support through FastForward, Andrea was on the road to improving her life.

“When I got out of prison, I knew I wanted to do something legally that would give me the kind of money I needed,” she said. “I was working at a Shenandoah Valley poultry plant when I saw the program fliers. I never thought I would be able to get into a program like that. I figured there would be a lot of paperwork and hoops to jump through.”

Andrea soon learned that the process was easy. After spending five minutes to answer a couple of questions, she enrolled to earn a Commercial Driver’s License – Class A at Blue Ridge Community College. Even better, with the financial support she received, she didn’t pay a dime out of her own pocket.

Andrea is now employed full time with Western Express and readily shares her newfound happiness with her life and her career.

“I love my new job. I get to travel a lot; I have a flexible schedule, and I make good money,” she said.

“This is who I was meant to be and what I was meant to do.”