A few months ago I started teaching a communications course part time. Today's Neighbourhood Hero is one of my students. This is her story in her own words.

If it weren't for my sister and a kind lady I met at the hospital, I wouldn't be where I am today. I would be at home feeling sorry for myself, wishing I had a better life. Instead I am in school becoming the person I want to be.

I have a fear of being judged because I'm nineteen and I have a four-year-old daughter, Keanna-Lee, and a one-year-old son, Taylor. They mean everything to me. They are my world. Everything I do, I do for them. My other fear is about failing and letting them down.

Let me tell you how I changed my life for the better.

Last summer my daughter fell and smashed her head. When I rushed her into the hospital, I met a lady at the front desk, and she was so kind and understanding. She got Keanna in right away to get her cut stitched. Later she came into the room to see how we were doing and to see if I needed anything. She even brought Keanna an ice-cream cone and offered me a ride home.

I thought to myself, "That's what I want to do in life. I want to be like this woman."

But I really didn't want to think about it because I knew that I was scared, too scared to even try.

Just after that my sister came to stay with me for a month. She was having a hard time making a life changing decision. Our mom had recently got married and moved to Thunder Bay where her husband lives. She gave my sister the summer to think about where she wanted to live -- in our hometown of Powell River with her Dad, where she had lived all her life, or in Thunder Bay.

My sister isn't the most out going person, so when she told me she was going to stay in Powell River, I wasn't shocked because I thought she would never leave our hometown. Then a couple of nights before she left, she suddenly told me she felt it was time for her to have a change in life. (I thought maybe some new clothes or something cause she's only 14; how much of a change could she have?) When she told me she was going to move to Thunder Bay, I was totally in shock!

When my grandparents came down to drive her to the airport in Comox, I went along for the ride because I thought that she was going to chicken out. But after I said good-bye and watched her get on the plane, something came over me. That's when I knew it was time for me to change my life too and get over my fears. It's like they didn't seem so big anymore.

On the way back to Nanaimo I asked my grandma and grandpa to stop off at Sportt-Shaw Community College so I could enroll in the Medical Office Assistant course. I didn't even have second thoughts about it. I wasn't even scared.

That's when I knew I had overcome my biggest fears in life.

During the last seven months at school, my self-esteem has improved, I treat myself better, and I feel like I'm a better mom because I'm doing something not only for myself but also for my kids.

Nanaimo has a variety of educational programs for people of all ages. Many of these opportunities are designed for people who didn't succeed in school the first time around.