Former teen mom overcomes challenges to graduate college

From a young age, Elizabeth Bradley’s chances for success seemed against the odds.

She grew up largely in a Bessemer City trailer park. Her mom suffered from mental illness, which really began manifesting itself when Bradley and her three siblings were almost teenagers. Through the years, the children were witness to countless instances of domestic violence.

“She just started going into really long periods of depression, lost her job, and she became dependent on my stepfather, who had beat her a few times,” said Bradley, of her mom. “Their fights would escalate, alcohol was usually involved for him.”

By the time she was a teenager, Bradley and her family had lived in battered women’s shelters, hotels, Salvation Army shelters, and with countless relatives and friends in several cities in the Carolinas.

At age 16, she moved out with her boyfriend in York, South Carolina, and started working full time at Walmart. She would move back home briefly and learned she was pregnant with her daughter, Skylar. She would become pregnant with her son five years later.

“I worked 40 hours, had my own place, took care of them,” said Bradley. “And then when they got to school age I was like ‘there’s got to be more to my life than this,’ and I wanted to help abused and neglected children, but I didn’t know how to do it.”

That was all a long time ago, and Bradley’s life has changed for the better.

On Dec. 15, she graduated with honors from Montreat College, a Christian liberal arts college that has a Charlotte campus, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and human services.

She is the first person in her family to graduate from college. She owns her own house and lives in York County, South Carolina. To make things better, Skylar is a freshman at York Technical College and will transfer to Winthrop University next year.

Bradley’s college dream was made possible by the ANSWER Scholarship, a nonprofit program which offers college scholarships, mentoring and professional development training to local single and married mothers to attend college. The scholarships are largely funded by private donations.

The organization currently is providing college scholarships for 16 mothers, including Bradley.

But even with the financial assistance, her path to a college degree has not come without challenges.

During her first pregnancy, Bradley did manage to earn a GED and later an associate degree with high honors from Gaston College in 2014. But her dreams of a four-year college degree remained elusive because of her responsibilities as a parent.

With inspiration from her Gaston College psychology instructor Hisayo Gallo, Bradley applied for —24 hours before the deadline-- and earned the ANSWER scholarship, and enrolled at Montreat College in 2015. Gallo would also become her mentor for the next three years, and “pushes me relentlessly to keep going.”

“When ANSWER brought me on, I started feeling significant and important, like I could literally do anything with my life,” said Bradley. “All they want to do is see you succeed at being a parent first, and an intelligent, professional woman after that.”

Bradley has held two jobs while earning her degree, including working as a financial officer at a foster care and child behavioral health agency in Gastonia, plus a weekend position loading and unloading planes at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

She is passionate about helping abused and neglected children. She plans to use her college degree—and lessons from her own personal experiences—to help abused and neglected children, and those who suffer from mental illness, succeed in life.

She has shared her personal story at several fundraisers and other events, and plans to continue to serve as a mentor with the ANSWER program.

Bradley was reminded how far she’s come when she volunteered during a holiday event last year at the Salvation Army.

“The last time I was there, I was someone who lived there,” she said. “When I walked through the door it was tears streaming down my face. It was very full circle as far as I’ve come now to where I was when I was 14 or 15 years old.”

You can reach Eric Wildstein at 704-869-1828 or Twitter.com/TheGazetteEric.

Want to apply?

For other mothers who want to attend college, ANSWER’s application round for the 2019-2020 school year opened Dec. 1 and closes March 1. You can learn more about the program at www.answerscholarship.org.