The West Georgia Technical College Foundation and GreyStone Power Corporation recently awarded the Tim B. Clower Scholarship in the amount of $2,500 to Elise Christine Njang.

Njang, a Fairburn, Ga. resident and native of Cameroon, is entering the Associate Degree in Nursing program at West Georgia Technical College.

Each year GreyStone Power awards scholarships to exceptionally deserving technical college students in the co-op’s service area. GreyStone Power awarded the Tim B. Clower scholarship out of a field of dozens of applicants.

“I want to personally thank Gary Miller and GreyStone Power for their commitment to technical education and for their devoted support of our students at West Georgia Technical College,” West Georgia Technical College President Steve G. Daniel said. “Thanks to community partners such as GreyStone Power and many others, we are better able to fulfill our mission of providing a high-quality education for the citizens of our communities.”

“As an electric cooperative, one of our core principles is concern for community,” GreyStone Public Relations & Communications Coordinator Ashley Kramer said. “Through Operation Round Up, our members are making a huge impact on people in our community. Together we’re helping students to reach their educational goals and supporting local nonprofits.”

GreyStone Power is a strong supporter of technical education. The Tim B. Clower Scholarship for $2,500 is awarded annually to one student from West Georgia Technical College and one student from Chattahoochee Technical College. The scholarship is awarded in honor of former GreyStone Power President/CEO Tim Clower and his dedication to technical education.

“GreyStone and West Georgia Technical College have had a long relationship of support for each other. This goes along with the cooperative guiding principle of support for education. Schools like West Georgia Tech are preparing students for a bright future, and supporting these students is an investment in Georgia’s future,” Kramer said.

“One of the most gratifying aspects of my job is awarding scholarships to students such as Elise Njang,” said WGTC Foundation Executive Director Kim Learnard. “Elise stood out because of her work ethic and academic accomplishments over the last two years of college, as well as her commitment to helping others.”

Njang’s story is one of perseverance, grace and unyielding faith. Her life is an illustration of the American Dream.

Njang came to the United States from her native country of Cameroon to reunite with her husband, who had moved to the U.S. a few years prior.

She is kind-hearted and grateful, evidenced by a spontaneous emotional outburst with tears of joy during the official scholarship presentation a few days ago on the West Georgia Tech Douglas Campus.

Surrounded by representatives from the two entities that collaborated to make the scholarship possible, GreyStone Power and the WGTC Foundation, Njang for the first time met those who had given her “the opportunity to help other people.”

Njang is steadfast in her desire to help others after witnessing widespread disease and even death in her native country.

“The healthcare in Cameroon is not good,” Njang said. “There aren’t enough doctors and nurses. God led me here so that I can learn how to take care of others, and I will devote the rest of my life to helping those that need medical help. That is my mission.”

The fact that Njang is entering the School of Nursing at WGTC is a fascinating story. When she arrived on American soil to start a new life, she didn’t know the English language and she didn’t have a high school diploma or GED.

Cameroon is a bilingual country, with one side speaking French while the other side speaks English. Njang grew up in the part of the country that speaks French.

Njang learned the English language over time by using the Internet and old fashioned textbooks, she said.

Once she felt comfortable enough that she could speak and write the language of her new country, she began the work of obtaining a GED. 

Rather than take a GED preparatory course, the common route taken for those who plan to take the GED test, Njang went in a different direction.

She taught herself.

“I used Google to find examples of questions that are on the GED test and worked hard and studied. My biggest fear since I moved here was that I would not pass the GED,” she said.

Njang passed the test, which was administered at West Georgia Tech. She had little trouble with the math and science sections because her education in Cameroon prepared her. The language arts sections of reading and writing were more problematic.

“The reading and writing sections were the hardest for me. I was so grateful that I was able to pass it and move on to the next step,” Njang said.

In the next step of Njang’s educational journey, she had to pass yet another test -- the COMPASS exam, to qualify for entry into WGTC. She devoted an entire semester to just one remedial English course. Otherwise she had no chance of passing the COMPASS.

Njang passed the COMPASS and took a year of core classes at West Georgia Tech before finishing her Associate of Science Degree in Pre-Nursing from Georgia Military Academy.

Njang applied to nursing school at various institutions of higher learning. Her number one choice was the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University.

She was accepted.

“That might have been the happiest day of my life,” she said. “I felt like everything was coming together for me.”

But Njang could not afford the $24,000 per-semester tuition. She tried to find a way, but couldn’t, so she returned to West Georgia Tech and applied there.

Njang likened her financial barrier to standing at an open door and peering in and seeing all of these great, wonderful things, only to have that door slam in your face.

“I cried and cried and cried,” she said. “I was so upset. But I couldn’t see at the time that God had a plan for me and it didn’t involve Emory. Sometimes your plans and God’s plans aren’t the same. I follow Him and I believe that He closed a door only to open a better one for me here.”

Njang plans to finish her ADN at West Georgia Tech and ultimately complete her education with a master’s degree at a nearby university. While she wants to experience every area of healthcare, she said that her heart is currently leading her to pediatrics.

“I just want to take what I learn and give back to others, especially children. The little children are the most vulnerable and I feel a calling to help them.

“I want to thank GreyStone Power and the West Georgia Technical College Foundation for selecting me for this scholarship. I am so grateful to them. I’m so blessed,” Njang said, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Elise Njang came to America in pursuit of a better life and an inner calling to help others.

She did not know the English language. She taught herself in just a few months.

She overcame her biggest fear by passing the GED on her first attempt. She prepared for the GED using the Internet.

She pushed down the one impediment that stood in the way of her passing the COMPASS exam by devoting weeks in a remedial English class. She is on her way to mastering the English language.

She went to college and excelled, so much so that she was accepted into one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the country. Financial barriers thwarted those plans.

Yet she soldiered on.

She kept her resolve and her dream alive.

And today that dream lives on.

If you have roadblocks or impediments keeping you from following your dream, challenges that seem too difficult to overcome, think of Elise Njang.

Your dream can live on, too.