Latricia Dick is 41 years old and a recent graduate of the Adult Education Program at the Kokomo Area Career Center. Raised in Oakford, Indiana, she attended a Christian school until the 8th grade while being raised by her grandparents. She is the middle child of a sister and two brothers—one who is autistic.
As her grandparents aged, they could not financially care for her, so she was forced to live with her parents. She claims, “It was from then that my life changed. I started in a public school and began to see things that one of that age should not be subjected: Drugs. Drugs are evil. I was in 9th grade and came home from school on a half-day, as the bus pulled up in front of our house, our house was being raided.” The police had guns drawn and Latricia saw her dad standing in the doorway. “I did not want to get off the bus. I had no choice. My grandmother was waiting for me and my baby sister.”
She claims that the worst was yet to come. “I wasn’t smart about drugs or the arrest, so when I went back to school the other kids’ parents who also went to jail, had children who wanted to beat me up. I got jumped and pushed downstairs, so I had my mom withdraw me from school. I still remember what the office lady said to me, ‘If you think it is hard now, wait until you try to get through life as an adult.’” That day, Latricia attributes growing up at the age of 15. She had to immediately become strong and get a job. “My first job was at Dairy Queen; I have never stopped working since that day.”
“As I grew up and became an adult, a mother, and a wife, I have always said that I will never let myself be the person who never finishes.” Latricia’s two daughters are now 18 and 23. One has graduated twice and the other is about to graduate. “I have said to myself that I refuse to let my baby girl graduate while I, as her mother, have no diploma.”
The greatest achievements Latricia credits in her life were the ones that were the most difficult to overcome. “I failed my test three times and was discouraged—to say the least—with everything else going on. But when I went in for the fourth test, I said, ‘If I fail, you will see me again even if I must start all over.’ I meant that because I wasn’t giving up.”
Latricia wants to inspire other students to not give up. She provided the following quote: “The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure, but rather fear not trying.”