Pell Grant helped local boy complete college
My life, along with millions of other Americans, was influenced for the better by a blue-blood senator from Rhode Island named Claiborne Pell.
I had worked at the Greensboro Summit Avenue Bi-Rite grocery store starting at the age of 14 to save up money for college. I worked hard in high school and obtained some scholarships as well.
My first year in college, my father passed away from cancer. It was the Pell Grant that helped me financially to obtain my degree in chemical engineering from N.C. State University so that I could give back to the community. I celebrated my 25 years as a chemical engineer in industry this past year, due in part to the senator who passed away Jan. 1 from Parkinson’s disease.
Sen. Pell, may you rest in peace and may His perpetual light always shine upon you for the Pell Grant that “teaches people to fish rather than giving people fish.”
Joe Plante
Summerfield
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