Rebecca Dobbins has come a long way. She has a story to tell and is not shy about telling it.
Rebecca is a first generation college student who was not encouraged to continue beyond high school. But she knew she was intelligent and could handle the academics, so she was determined to continue her education. As a runner-up for the Lilly Endowment scholarship, as well as for a scholarship from the Johnson County Community Foundation, her classes were fully paid for. She took classes at IUPUC for one and one-half years and then met her first husband, whom she thought was a “nice and sweet” guy. They married, and life for Rebecca began to go downhill.
Her husband became a drug user, she says, and she tried to help him in many different ways but was unsuccessful. She said his behavior became dangerous, so she moved out of the house to an apartment and lived separately from him. According to Rebecca, he called her several times to tell her he loved her, but she knew that he was caught in the drug trap.
Finally, on January 7, 2006, Rebecca received a telephone call from the police, asking her to come to identify the body of her husband, who had died of a drug overdose. Rebecca says that when she went to the house to identify him, he was lying on his back in the living room of his house, holding a photo of her in his hand.
In August of 2007, Rebecca married Jeff Dobbins, a carpenter whose business is custom woodworking. Together, they have a 2 1/2-year-old son named Aidan Mannix (see attached family photo). In addition to his work, according to Rebecca, he also cooks, cleans, and changes Aidan’s dirty diapers. “What more could a girl want?” asks Rebecca. She had come from a life she describes as fearful and dreary to one of happiness and hope.
Rebecca called Ivy Tech Community College the first week of January 2008 and enrolled in two classes. She continued her coursework on a part-time basis last summer and then enrolled full-time last fall, during which time she was named to the Dean’s List, a recognition of academic achievement. She was also inducted into Phi Theta Kappa. Rebecca’s goal is to become a registered nurse. She will apply for the nursing program in April.
Rebecca recently received the first Sandy and Bill DeMichieli Nursing Scholarship, which provides funding for 100% tuition for up to two nursing students each academic year. Rebecca will receive the award for the coming academic year. She has also been selected for the IVYlab psychological research lab to be the assistant research manager.
Upon graduation from Ivy Tech, Rebecca plans to enroll at IUPUC to earn a bachelor of science in nursing. Her larger goal is to have her own practice, in which she can “give more care and do less paperwork.” She is also interested in helping people who are planning to donate an organ.
Rebecca currently works at the Greenwood Medical Lab as a phlebotomist; her boss at the lab has been immeasurably supportive of her during these past years; Rebecca is especially grateful and wants to return the favor whenever and however she can.
Rebecca commented:
Anyone who feels like they can’t do what they really want to do needs to figure out what’s keeping them from it and then do something about it. There’s nothing holding you back from success if you really have a passion for it. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
I need to do what’s going to make me stronger and better for my son and my husband. For the first time, I feel like I can be the person who I really am. Since coming to school at Ivy Tech, I feel that I’m fulfilling my purpose.
Ivy Tech is proud of Rebecca Dobbins.