While Lone Star College-CyFair accounting student Janet Jackson sees knowledge as “the key to freedom from the limitations of ignorance” and always seeks learning opportunities, it took more than two decades to begin her college education.

“I do not regret my 24-year delay. I believe it equipped me with knowledge of life that only experience can give,” she wrote in a winning scholarship essay. “Now actually attending classes is a dream come true. I feel as if I have been standing in a dark room and someone has come and turned on the light.” 

Jackson, one of five essay winners across LSCS, earned a $1,000 scholarship for her essay on “How My Community College Experience Has Influenced My Life.” The other essay winners are LSC-Kingwood’s Karen Martinez, LSC-Montgomery’s Linda Whittington, LSC-North Harris’s Moumen Soudan, LSC-North Harris and LSC-Tomball’s Carla Breazeal.

All five students recently shared their personal stories with more than 150 donors, community partners and college employees in attendance at the 16th Annual Lone Star College Foundation Chancellor’s Breakfast held Jan. 28 at Shirley Acres.

The LSC impact for Jackson began when she enrolled at the Barker Cypress campus, where she felt welcomed and accepted without judgment. She wrote that the “daily submersion of learning at LSC-CyFair is thrilling” and that she feels a connection with teachers, “who bring passion to their subjects that make them come alive” and students, who “both young and old interact without bias.” 

A college education for her children was the goal of Jackson’s mother, who dropped out of high school herself. Now in her second semester of college, Jackson is not only leading her own two daughters by example, but has her own goal - to earn an accounting degree and start her own business.

For information on LSC-CyFair programs, including the new Accounting Advanced Technical Certificate Program, go to CyFair.LoneStar.edu.