Skyler Green is completing an internship with Compass Counseling this summer, preparing for a career in social work. The 2019 New River Community and Technical College social services graduate is now finishing her Bachelor of Social Work with Concord University.
She’s excited about the future, and what she’s achieved because when Green graduated from Independence High School in 2012, she did not plan to go to college.
“I hated school,” Green said. “I didn’t take the ACT or SAT, and was determined not to go to college, but after working for a few years, I realized that I needed to go back to school to find a career.”
By starting at New River CTC, she was able to take a placement test and did not need test scores for admission.
“My plan was to take general education classes at New River and then transfer to an education program,” Green explained. “But after a while I changed my mind. I stopped taking classes and then came back after talking to Dr. White.”
Green had taken a sociology class from Dr. Kelli White, assistant professor of social services, and White encouraged her to come back to New River CTC and take social services classes.
“Around that same time, I was with my cousin’s child when they had a session with Birth to Three [a West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources early intervention program]. I love working with children and after seeing what the Birth to Three coordinator did, I knew what I wanted to do, and I could see how that a degree in social services could help me.”
Green exceled in her social services classes and served as the president for the college’s Browning Social Services Club. She graduated with her associate degree from New River CTC and enrolled in Concord’s social work program.
“Because I’d already taken many general education classes and the social services classes, I was able to finish my bachelor’s degree in a year,” Green said. “The classes I took at New River prepared me for the classes at Concord. Dr. White is on the same page with the faculty at Concord, and everything with transferring my credits was very smooth.”
New River CTC’s social services program prepares graduates for direct services positions and to continue their education, as Green did. The program qualifies for free tuition through the West Virginia Invests grant program, and registration is underway now for fall classes starting in August.
For information on admissions and programs offered at New River CTC, visit www.newriver.edu, email admissions@newriver.edu or call 866-349-3739.
New River Community and Technical College serves nine counties in southeastern West Virginia from the Greenbrier Valley Campus (Lewisburg), Mercer County Campus (Princeton), Nicholas County Campus (Summersville) and Raleigh County Campus (Beaver).
