For the past fifteen years, Waypoint has presented a Tribute to Women of Achievement scholarship award to a non-traditional, female student attending Kirkwood Community College to recognize and encourage the extraordinary academic achievement of a woman who has faced daunting life challenges, but has continued her education in spite of those obstacles.

This year, one $1,350 scholarships was given for Kirkwood Community College, and in addition Mount Mercy University has partnered with Waypoint to offer a $2,000 per year scholarship to the Kirkwood scholarship recipient should she wish to continue her education to obtain a Bachelors degree.

This year’s scholarship recipient, Joanna Green. 

Joanna has overcome tremendous obstacles as she has moved steadily toward her goal of completing her education in order to become a teacher or school therapist. Someday, she says, she hopes to share her story with other women “to let them see that the impossible is possible.”

Joanna was in a terribly abusive relationship for 20 years, during which time she became addicted to drugs as she sought to deaden her emotional, physical and spiritual pain. She and her son escaped their home on May 28, 2009, and came to the Heart of Iowa so she could receive treatment for her addiction and begin to heal from the abuse she had endured over the past 20 years. “It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,” she recalls. Her son also began receiving treatment for the pain and suffering he had experienced.

Today Joanna and her son live in transitional housing and are on a journey to recovery and a new life. Her son is on the honor roll at school. “His teachers have seen positive changes in him and see him as a survivor,” Joanna says proudly. “He plays Metro Youth Football, takes guitar lessons, and is signed up for the KICK Career Planning Program at Kirkwood for the second year.”

Joanna has been clean and sober for almost two years and continues to attend several support groups. She participated in Family Drug Court and graduated from the program in June. She works for the Cedar Rapids School District, which she describes as a very positive environment, and is involved in many activities at the school. “The feeling of knowing I make a difference in a student's life academically, socially and emotionally is the most rewarding gift I have today,” she says. She recently completed her first semester at Kirkwood.

The challenge of working, being in school, attending support groups and raising her son has been difficult at times, Joanna admits. “Financially my son and I go without, but I keep reminding myself that education will get me out of poverty. I am meeting goals in my life today that I never dreamed possible. With the long road my son and I have been down, we are both showing amazing progress. I would have never imagined my life like it is today.”