GTCC dental assisting graduate thankful for Titan Link assistance with damaged automobile

“I decided to go back to school and focus on what I wanted to do,” said Hilario “Rio” Fadonougbo. “It was the first time I had been back in a classroom in a long time. Everyone (at GTCC) worked perfectly with me. I gained a positive connection with all my instructors.”

Hilario “Rio” Fadonougbo understands all about the bumps in the road life sometimes offers up, both figuratively and literally.

Earlier this year the recent Guilford Technical Community College graduate ran over something on the highway that damaged the tires on his car so badly he could no longer drive to his classes on the Jamestown campus.

Without transportation, his dental assisting classes and graduation would have been put on hold. But then he discovered Titan Link.

Titan Link provides resources and information that help with non-academic challenges, such as housing, transportation, food insecurity, childcare, and emergency loan/grant/scholarship application access for GTCC.

Fadonougbo applied for emergency assistance from Titan Link and was quickly approved.

“It was very important. It came at a very difficult moment for me and took care of a lot of problems,” Fadonougbo said of the grant from Titan Link. “My tires had gotten slashed when I ran over something on the highway, and I needed to have a hose replaced.”

The Titan Link assistance not only helped the 26-year-old Fadonougbo stay on track to graduate from GTCC in early May but also kept him on schedule to complete his clinical requirements early this summer and begin work at a dental office where he has secured a full-time job.

It also helped him keep his grander goal of attending dental school within reach.

Fadonougbo has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Fayetteville State University, but the realities of life forced him to put dental school on hold after receiving his bachelor’s degree.

“The financial aid was limited, and then I lost my dad,” said Fadonougbo, who went to work as a lab tech after graduating from Fayetteville State.

While working in the lab, Fadonougbo said he spent a lot of time trying to “figure out his future.” Last August, he decided it was time to resume the pursuit of a dental career and enrolled at GTCC.

“I decided to go back to school and focus on what I wanted to do,” he said. “It was the first time I had been back in a classroom in a long time. Everyone (at GTCC) worked perfectly with me. I gained a positive connection with all my instructors.”

Fadonougbo doesn’t have an exact timeline set for resuming his pursuit of becoming a dentist. He says whenever he “feels he is ready, ready to focus,” he will take the dental admission test required to apply to dental school.

He says he won’t forget the help provided by Titan Link and urges GTCC students to become aware of what the organization offers.

“The people with Titan Link are really good, passionate people,” he recalled. “I think there are probably a lot of students out there who don’t know about Titan Link. Sometimes students just don’t take the initiative. I was fortunate a classmate of mine told me about it.”

For more information on Titan Link, visit gtcc.edu/student-life/student-success-center/titan-link-center-for-academic-engagement/index.php.