Miasia Menifee wasn’t planning a community college career.

But life has a way of changing our course – and sometimes, it’s for the better.

Miasia’s plans changed when she got a letter about her eligibility for free tuition benefits under the War Orphans Act – if she attended a public college or university. Her father, who passed away eight years ago, had been discharged from the service with Hodgkins disease, qualified as a 100 percent disability.

All set to enter a private institution, she gave it some thought, and decided to use her benefits at Tidewater Community College instead.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” she says. ”The support I received was incredible…. and I have just grown so much as a person here.”

A year and a half later, this Student Government President is looking at a stellar college career, leadership and work experience. She works in the veterans affairs office as a work-study and as an editor of the college newspaper. She plans to transfer to Old Dominion University after she graduates in May, where she will major in English and minor in African-American Studies.

Her experience with Virginia’s Community Colleges has so impressed her that she wants to come back as a faculty member someday.

“I’d like to be back here as an English professor,” she says, “and then just take it from there.”

Miasia was with a group of TCC-Virginia Beach students who shared their stories at the General Assembly today.  Students from Eastern Shore and Piedmont Virginia Community Colleges also visited.

Students from TCC