This Letter to the Editor from HCC alum Roy Pullam appeared in The Gleaner on July 17th, 2014.

Fifty years ago this fall I enrolled in Henderson Community College. After I purchased books and paid my tuition, I had less than $20. A whole car load of us from Providence initially enrolled at HCC. I had a ride with one or the other the first semester. By the end of the first term, they were nearly all gone. I would have been in their number had E.L. Overfield not paid my tuition.  

I was told that the school had met and awarded me a scholarship, but my favorite teacher, Mr Overfield knew I didn't have the money and would not be back. The scholarship committee did not meet until spring, so he took it on his own to see that I could return. It wasn't easy. I had a work study job, a national defense loan and social security money. I gave the loan money and the social security money to my family. Thank God that Dr. Ralph Coffman knew social security law and found that I would qualify under the new provisions until I was 21. He not only encouraged me, he took me to the social security office and acted as my advocate in getting my situation accelerated. I bet there are not 1 in a 1000 bursars at a college who would take such interest in the fate of a needy student.

I hitchhiked the second semester and the second year to college. It was often cold, I did a lot of walking and worrying and I met a lot of kind strangers who gave me rides. Between having all the people at the college interested in fate and parents who were determined I would get an education, I had no choice but learn.

There was only one building on the hill, few teachers and a world of bright, young minds that came from families that had never had a college student in their number. Classes were true challenges with so many clawing to get to the top. I learned I had to bring my "A" game if I were going to survive and thrive. So many of those young men and women have returned to Henderson and manned professions in the courts, the hospitals, the schools and businesses here. That little school in its third year paid rich dividends for the community.

There is among some shame for having to go to a community college. I can't understand. Like me, the only bullet in the gun for them was HCC. They couldn't afford to go away, and they could work while going to school here. The college was extremely affordable ( I paid $82. per semester). The cheap tuition and part time jobs allowed so many a chance to save enough to go on to a four year setting without extreme financial sacrifices.