{"id":24478,"date":"2018-12-15T09:59:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T14:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=24478"},"modified":"2018-12-15T10:08:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T15:08:41","slug":"life-lessons-the-past-doesnt-have-to-define-who-you-are-in-the-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2018\/12\/life-lessons-the-past-doesnt-have-to-define-who-you-are-in-the-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Life lessons: ‘The past doesn’t have to define who you are in the present’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Wanita Scott, third from left, graduates on Saturday with a degree in child and family studies. She hopes her struggles to earn the degree and straighten out her life will be an inspiration to her children, including, from left, her nephew Warren Gavin and her biological children Maria and Alex.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wanita Scott\u2019s bachelor\u2019s degree in child and family studies isn\u2019t just an accomplishment for her, it\u2019s a lesson for six children.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a single mother, Scott, 40, has been raising her own three children and three of her cousin\u2019s, all while regularly making the Dean\u2019s List at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and pursuing the degree she\u2019ll be awarded Saturday. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to inspire them all to know that, no matter where you\u2019ve been in life, the past doesn\u2019t have to define who you are in the present,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

When her past found Scott living in Fort Myers, Florida, raising three children alone and dealing with cocaine addiction in herself and her partner as well as their abusive, 10-year relationship, she resolved to change her future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father who raised me, Dennis Lee Scott Sr., lived in Tennessee. I called him, and he was in Florida in 12 hours,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThe next thing you know, I\u2019m in Tennessee, I have a job at Waffle House, an apartment, and I begin my college adventure at Chattanooga State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, she thought she would become a teacher, a natural fit with her love for children and desire to nurture them. Given her solo responsibility to provide for her own three children, however, she chose a major in nursing. With demand for nurses exceeding supply, Scott believed the choice would mean a good living for her and stability for her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I pursued that until getting all the way to the start of the R.N. course work, and then I lost my first patient,\u201d she said. \u201cThe family couldn\u2019t afford professional help, and I needed money, so they paid me some by the hour, and I took care of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was Mrs. Ella B. Kelso, and I didn\u2019t just care for her, I cared about her. I was still with her even after her grandson and I stopped dating. I helped her for 18 months and then, when her time came and she passed away, I was devastated, and I learned something important about myself. I learned I couldn\u2019t be a nurse because I would never be able to cope with that kind of loss as part of my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott dropped out of college, took a full-time job with an online retailer and pondered the \u201cpurpose for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she received a call from authorities in Florida. Her cousin\u2019s three children were about to become wards of the state unless she could take custody of them. Scott took them in but soon after she and the six young people \u2014 ages 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 \u2014 were evicted from her apartment for exceeding its occupancy limit. Eventually, public assistance to help her as legal guardian of the extra three children enabled Scott to rent an adequate-sized living space.<\/p>\n

After getting her personal life settled and spending a semester away from college, she resumed her studies at UTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe break between Chattanooga State and UTC helped me decide where I needed to be,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWhen the kids came to live with me from Florida, I realized, \u2018This is what I want to do.\u2019 From going through my own past, I wanted to prevent others from going through some of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blessed to have my own three and to have the other three turned out to be a great blessing, too. From that, I made my decision to become a better person and a better mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also was inspired by her aunt, Shirley Scott, a cancer survivor who has given Wanita Scott financial help\u2014which she dutifully repays. Now majoring in child and family studies, her course work, combined with the behavioral and other challenges faced by some of the children she was raising, convinced her that the children had important needs she was unable to meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to a lot of social workers to see if it might be possible to have someone come in and talk to the kids. I knew they needed extra help, and I knew enough to know that I couldn\u2019t give it to them,\u201d Scott said. \u201cAlso, I realized that I needed to familiarize myself with how to deal with certain situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

She learned both in class and at home, and what she learned in one setting has been helpful in the other.<\/p>\n

Upon graduation from UTC, Scott hopes to put her education and experience to work full-time as a group therapy facilitator with a mental health treatment and addiction recovery provider.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my experiences, I\u2019ve been shown where it is that I needed to be, and I know I\u2019m doing this because it\u2019s what I\u2019m supposed to be doing. I\u2019ll be helping children who may be dealing with addiction,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing and sometimes overwhelming. I never believed this would be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of Dennis Lee Scott Sr.\u2019s death in 2017, <\/span>her \u201cbiggest supporter,\u201d won\u2019t see her graduate. Although he\u2019s not her biological father, she calls him \u201cmy daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I lost him, that was so hard. I had to make the funeral arrangements, keep going to school,\u201d she said. \u201cI told myself his loss wouldn\u2019t be my excuse but my motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, she\u2019s also been rebuilding a relationship with her biological father, who is expected to attend commencement. And her cousin has made strides against personal issues and is now living with Scott.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy cousin deserves thanks for her trust in me with her children, for overcoming her own obstacles, and that gave me purpose and inspiration and motivation to keep going. That made everything even more worth the effort,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to provide for the children\u2014my cousin\u2019s children and my cousin, herself, now that she\u2019s with me, too\u2014is to inspire them to know that where you\u2019ve been doesn\u2019t have to limit where you can go.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years ago, you couldn\u2019t have told me I would be getting a bachelor\u2019s degree. Once I was on that path, though, with my kids watching, I wasn\u2019t ever going to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wanita Scott: \u201cI want to inspire them all to know that, no matter where you\u2019ve been in life, the past doesn\u2019t have to define who you are in the present.”<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1300,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"yoast_head":"\nLife lessons: 'The past doesn't have to define who you are in the present' | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - 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