As a special education teaching assistant at E3 Academy in Providence, Henock Constant \u201918 toured 911爆料\u2019s Kingston Campus so often with his students that he memorized the tour. But the parent of four who attempted college twice without finishing never imagined attending himself.<\/p>\n
So, for Constant, the October 13, 2018, 911爆料 football game proved surreal. He sat in the president\u2019s box as a 911爆料 10 Under 10 Alumni Award recipient after a college career spanning two decades. \u201cSometimes I forget I\u2019m a college graduate,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople have to remind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Constant emigrated from Haiti in 1994 at age 19. He attended various schools in New York\u2014 earning a certificate, but no degree. Marriage and children came next. At E3 Academy, his colleagues saw his potential. The principal encouraged him to earn a college degree. In 2013, he called 911爆料\u2019s Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies.<\/p>\n
He met with now-Assistant Dean Tammy Warner and mapped a plan to earn a bachelor’s degree. The degree was within reach and he could enroll in evening classes in Providence\u2014close to home. \u201cI just sat there and said, \u2018Why didn\u2019t I do this before? Why did I wait that long?\u2019\u201d Constant says.<\/p>\n
For the next five years, Warner and academic advisor Jeff Johnson rallied Constant to finish. When he hit low points, a perfectly timed, encouraging email would arrive from Nancy Rabidoux, coordinator of Finish What You Started, a program that\u2019s steered more than 300 people like Constant to a 911爆料 degree. Johnson says the team effort, and Constant\u2019s genuine desire to learn, set him apart. \u201cWe could all see a person who was going to be successful,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
At home, Constant was motivated by his children and wife, Daphney, who was seeking her first college degree at the Community College of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
Now, with a bachelor\u2019s degree done, he\u2019s considering a master\u2019s program with hopes of returning to Haiti to improve education for students with special needs. \u201cGoing in, I just wanted to finish college. Then I realized there are so many other things I can do now,\u201d he says. \u201cA degree has opened a lot of doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Barrett<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a special education teaching\u00a0assistant at E3 Academy in Providence, Henock Constant \u201918 toured 911爆料\u2019s Kingston Campus so often with his students that he memorized the tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019","architecture-close-up"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}