Career Focus 4-2 - Sandhills Community College

in Public Services & Safety
Continued from page 3
Stan Matherson
Human Services Technology-Substance
Abuse Graduate
A
few years after graduating
from North Moore High
School, Stan Matherson
enrolled at Sandhills
Community College as a transfer
student. He completed his classes
and headed to the University of
North Carolina Greensboro to
pursue a degree in accounting. He
didn’t complete the program but
did find employment in a variety
of fields before becoming a truck
driver.
When he started driving trucks, he
finally felt that he had found a job
that he really enjoyed. However, in
2002, a life-threatening accident
with a dump truck ended his
career. “I had two ruptured discs
and a severely injured knee,”
Matherson explained. “When the
doctors told me that I couldn’t drive
trucks any more, I
felt crushed.”
“I turned to
Sandhills,” he said.
“It was the best thing
I could have done.
I met Professor Carol Hoffman,
coordinator of the Human Services
Technology program. She genuinely
wanted to know about me, my goals
and my passions.”
“I told her everything about myself
and my past. I told her that I was
once a drug addict, that I had
been in prison and that I loved
driving trucks. She told me that
even though I couldn’t drive trucks
anymore, I could use my other
experiences to help others. She
suggested that I consider going
into counseling. Even though I
had never thought about
counseling as a career, I
realized that I do enjoy
helping people.
“My instructors, President
John Dempsey, and
other faculty and staff at
Sandhills did everything
they could to help me,” he
said. “Every time a problem
came up, someone helped
me develop a solution. They
always told me: ‘Keep up with the
academics and don’t worry about
anything else.’ They never wanted
anything to come between me, my
education and my career goals.
Matherson excelled in his studies.
He was inducted into Phi Theta
Kappa, the international honor
society for community college
students.
“I learned so much in my program,”
he said. “One of the most important
things was that in order to keep
my sobriety, I have to give it away.
What this means is that I have
to tell my story. I have to share
my experiences, and in doing so, I
inspire others to know that sobriety
is possible.”
He interned at the Morrison
Correctional Institution where
he was hired as a substance
abuse counselor. Matherson later
earned a bachelor’s degree from
St. Andrews Presbyterian College
and is working on a certification in
Substance Abuse from the North
Carolina Substance Abuse Board.
To learn more about the Human
Services Technology-Substance
Abuse program at Sandhills
Community College, contact
Carol Hoffman at (910) 695-3863
or hoffmanc@sandhills.edu or
scan this QR Code with your
smartphone:
Kim Fielder-Jones
Early Childhood Education Graduate
Kimberly Fielder-Jones
graduated from Union Pines
High School. She always
dreamed of becoming an
actress and studied theatre at
Valdosta State University. During
that time, she also worked in
professional theatre.
“I was really doing my thing when
I got a call from my mother who
told me that she didn’t want to
interrupt my life, but that she could
really use my help,” Fielder-Jones
said. Her mother had delivered a
very premature daughter who was
born blind.
“I looked at my life,” she explained,
“and even though I was doing
something that I very much
enjoyed, I realized
that theatre
wasn’t going to
be very lucrative.
I packed up and
came back home.
My sister became
my new direction in life.”
Fielder-Jones knew if she was
going to help care for her sister
she needed formal education. “I
immediately turned to Sandhills
and enrolled in the Early
Childhood Education program. I
also took correspondence courses to
learn Braille.”
“One of my instructors felt that this
was my calling,” she reflected. “She
saw things in me I didn’t see. She
taught me the importance of
patience and listening.”
After Sandhills, Fielder-Jones
attended UNC-Pembroke and
earned a bachelor’s degree in
Special Education. She worked
for Moore County Schools with
visually-impaired students for
10 years.
Several years ago Felder-
Jones’ daughter was diagnosed
with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is
a high-functioning form of autism.
“All that I could think was, ‘What
mother would be better equipped
to care for this special child?’ ” she
recalled.
Fielder-Jones wakes up every day
loving her career. “I have returned
to Sandhills and now teach future
educators,” she said. “I touch even
more lives. I tell my students that
I started right where they are – in
fact, in the very same classroom.”
Sandhills Community College
prepares individuals to work
with children from infancy
through middle childhood in
diverse learning environments.
An Associate in Applied Science
in Early Childhood and four
certificate programs are offered.
To learn more about the Early
Childhood Education program at
Sandhills Community College,
contact Rhonda Hawkins at
(910) 695-3808 or
hawkinsr@sandhills.edu or
scan this QR Code with your
smartphone:
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I Volume 4 • Issue 2 I CareerFocus www.sandhills.edu I Sandhills Community College I (910) 692-6185