From GED to nursing, Innocente Uwase is building her future at GTCC

“GTCC helped me understand what I needed to improve and gave me the support to keep trying,” says Innocente Uwase.

Innocente Uwase was in the twelfth grade, months from graduating, when she moved from Zambia to North Carolina. Enrolling in high school here, she learned, would mean starting over in the ninth grade, back with her younger sister.

She looked for another way to finish and found Guilford Technical Community College’s GED program.

Earning her GED was not Uwase’s only goal. She also wanted to be a nurse, a lifelong dream that began in childhood. Growing up, she struggled with asthma and often needed medical care. During those visits, she appreciated the compassion the nurses showed her.

“As a child, I was always going to the hospital because of asthma,” Uwase said. “The nurses took care of me when I was sick, and that inspired me to want to take care of people in their most difficult moments.”

As a non-native English speaker, she found coursework and testing in English challenging. 

“When I first started here, my English wasn’t very strong, and sometimes people couldn’t understand me,” Uwase said. “It made things harder in class, but I kept working and trying to improve.”

One of her biggest challenges was passing the English portion of the GED exam. It took three attempts, but she refused to give up. She kept studying, sought help from instructors, and worked toward her goal.

“GTCC helped me understand what I needed to improve and gave me the support to keep trying,” she said.

She credits Matthew Duehring, college and career readiness math and basic skills instructor, and James Brown, director of adult education and basic skills programs, with helping her build the confidence and skills needed to pass.

“Innocente is one of the most positive and inspiring students I have met in over 10 years at GTCC,” said Brown. “She came to class each day focused on where she saw herself going, not where she was. That reflected her determination, confidence, and belief in her future.”

In 2024, Uwase earned her GED through GTCC's adult education program. She was inducted into the National Adult Education Honor Society (NAEHS), which recognizes the achievements of adult education students, and was selected to give a speech during the society's induction ceremony. 

Uwase immediately obtained her certified nursing assistant certificate through a private school in Greensboro and is now back at GTCC earning her associate in science degree while working as a CNA at Pennybyrn, a senior living community in High Point.

She was also accepted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and into C-STEP, a selective program that guarantees her a spot at UNC-Chapel Hill after completing her associate’s at GTCC.

“I recently visited Chapel Hill through the program,” Uwase said. “It's a beautiful and big campus, and I'm very excited about going there.”

As the first person in her family to attend college, Uwase hopes her experience will encourage others, including her younger siblings, to pursue their own educational goals.

“All of my siblings want to go to college now too,” she said 

Her advice to other students is simple.

“My advice is to work hard and not give up when you face challenges,” Uwase said. “Also ask for help. I was afraid at first because I thought people wouldn’t understand me. But when I asked for help, I learned what I was doing wrong and was able to improve.”

“If it wasn’t for GTCC, I wouldn’t be in school right now.”