Persistent and resilient are two words that come to mind when Nikki Saunders ’21 thinks about what it means to be a Warrior. “For me, there’s just such a sense of pride,” she says.
Her path from Texas to Walla Walla, from a life of addiction to a rewarding job in social services, was filled with scary, hard situations. But her own persistence and resilience — and the support she found at Walla Walla Community College — helped her start a new chapter in her life, where she now helps others transform their lives too.
THE MOTIVATION TO CHANGE
In her 20s and 30s, Saunders had an addiction that was debilitating, she says, and led her to make some poor choices to feed her habit. She experienced incarceration, but as she entered her 40s, she knew things needed to change.
“When I made the decision to come up to Washington to be with my mom, I really wanted to change my life,” she says. “I didn’t want to continue down that path.” But with her record and no college degree, she didn’t know if a good career would ever be possible for her.
Then she started meeting people who worked locally in social services. She was surprised to learn that many of them shared similar backgrounds to hers and had overcome obstacles, including addiction and homelessness, to get to where they were. When she asked how they did it, “every single one of them pointed me to the community college,” she says. “That’s where they got their start.”
Earning a degree had showed employers that they were committed to change and capable of responsibility. “I was just very encouraged by this community,” Saunders says. “It was the first time that I had ever experienced such a sense of support and understanding and nonjudgment of what I had put myself through. And that also continued when I came into the college.”
SURROUNDED BY SUPPORT
Inspired by the people she’d met, Saunders enrolled in WWCC’s Health and Human Services program — and was amazed by the “true community” she found on campus.
“I was surprised about how inclusive they made me feel, even though I was an older student going to college for the first time,” she says. “There were so many activities and so much fun going on around campus.”
WWCC was also there to help her navigate every challenge. The Basic Food Employment and Training program helped her maintain her food assistance benefits while enrolled in school. The Financial Aid Office helped her complete the FAFSA application for federal student aid. The Tutoring and Learning Center helped her through her math classes. And Paris Davis in the on-campus Counseling Services suggested books and exercises for anxiety that helped her stay on top of her mental health.
“She was wonderful,” Saunders says.
When she was thinking about transferring to a four-year university, Saunders also connected with TRIO — a program designed to help first-generation, low-income students like her. They helped her explore options and find a way to pay for books. Even when she decided not to transfer, TRIO Director Lauren Conrad-Goff continued to check in with her, making sure she was on track to graduate. “I will always remember that kindness and her checking up on me,” Saunders says.
She was stunned by the support she met every step of the way. “If you are brave enough to ask for help, there was always an answer to those requests,” she says.
FINDING HER PURPOSE
As she worked toward her associate degree, Saunders enjoyed classes in art, music, psychology and ethics. And her courses in the Human and Social Services program introduced her to a world where she could truly make a difference. She recalls a memorable visit to the Juvenile Justice Center with Instructor Curtis Phillips. “That one stood out to me a lot because it was hands-on getting to see where our services could be used or where we could be helpful,” she says, “and the different populations of people that we may be serving whenever we were done with school.”
Her internship at Walla Walla’s Sleep Center, a shelter run by the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless, was also pivotal. She started doing basic intakes with the shelter’s clients, then went on to earn her peer support certification through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. As a peer support worker with lived experience of recovery, she provided support to others experiencing the same challenges.
It was an amazing way to learn how to help people access the resources available in our community, she says. “It just really showed me that this is where I belong.” When the COVID pandemic hit and the center was looking for more staff, her internship turned into a paying job, which she continued to do in the year after her graduation.
Today Saunders works as a Housing Stability Coordinator with the Walla Walla Housing Authority. She meets with families who are living in Housing Authority properties and helps them set goals, problem-solve and connect with resources they need.
“I get to work hands-on with our low-income families and our elderly and just really try to be that extra assistance and support and compassionate, nonjudgmental person that tries to make life better for them,” she says.
“One of the most rewarding things is to be able to go in, identify those needs, work with the tenant, connect them with the resources, do the referrals, and then watch the services improve their life,” Saunders says. “This is what I’m meant to do. I just love it.”
A CATALYST FOR CHANGE
Saunders encourages WWCC students like her to “enjoy their time on campus because it goes fast” and to “lean into the support that is available there because it is abundant.”
WWCC was a “catalyst” and “life-changer” for her, she says, and it can be for others too. “I’ve been working in the community for a couple years now, and I absolutely do the work of the people that I had admired that motivated me to go to school,” she adds. “So I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing, and the community college made it possible.”