From homelessness to Associate Professor/Program and Department Chair
From homelessness to Associate Professor/Program and Department Chair
Chevelle Mason went from being a 17-year-old mother of two to an associate professor of computer science and management at Eastern Shore Community College.
Mason explains that growing up on the streets of Camden, New Jersey, was difficult. She had to overcome many barriers, including being homeless as a young mother.
After she graduated high school, Mason moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. After the birth of her daughter, she enrolled in Eastern Shore Community College to better her life for her children. She attended ESCC sporadically for years while she navigated her daughter’s health issues.
In 2003, while attending ESCC, she earned a work-study position with the college’s Adult Education Department. After her work-study was over, she was hired part-time and remained in the department for a decade.
While working, she graduated from the Eastern Shore and Tidewater community colleges, and then enrolled at Virginia Wesleyan University in Norfolk, sometimes commuting over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel four times weekly.
Mason earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2012, and the university published a video on Mason’s success story.
Mason wanted more in life, so she took a position as a College Success Coach at ESCC, and while in that position she saw a need at the college for business and information technology programs.
Mason went back to school and earned two master’s degrees in Information Assurance and Business Information Technology from Wilmington University in Delaware.
Afterward she became an Information Technology adjunct instructor at ESCC for a few years before becoming a full-time Information Technology and Business Management Professor.
In addition to teaching in two disciplines, she helps in the community by building the website for Lighthouse Ministries in Keller.
As a college professor, she saw the need in the community for technology help and redesigned the programs in Business Management and the Technology major in Business Management major.
She also added two Career Study Certificates (CSC): Webpage Development and IT Support, which are stackable credentials within the technology major program. The IT support CSC grew out of a national partnership between Google and colleges across the country. Graduates who complete the program earn their Google IT Support certification.
After a graduate completes the Management with Technology program, they have the opportunity to earn industry recognized certifications. Courses in this program may help students attain the Network Technology Associate Certification, Internet Business.
Associate Certification, Site Development Associate Certification, and Google IT Support Certification. Graduates can apply for jobs as a troubleshooter, webpage developer, and IT Support. The college also offers beginner’s Microsoft Office courses and various courses for CompTIA certification.
And now Professor Mason has come full circle from student to teacher of students.
Never give up!
Dream, Believe, and Achieve - Chevelle
I give a speech to my students on the first day of every class. I explain to them life happens.
I tell them, "life happens. What do you do when life happens?" You keep going and never give up on your dream or goals. Chevelle