(ARA) - Ann Marie Casey-Ulery, 25, always yearned for a college degree, but put her dream on hold to raise and support her 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters while their armed forces dad was deployed overseas. In addition to caring for her own family, she also serves as power of attorney for her best friend's young daughter while both parents serve in Iraq.
"With the girls' father being deployed on and off over the past 2 years, I've had to double up and be Mommy and Daddy all alone," Casey-Ulery says. "School couldn't be a factor when I was alone to raise my family."
However, Casey-Ulery's greatest wish was granted when she recently applied for, and won, a Project Working Mom full scholarship to attend an online college. Project Working Mom is a program that has granted millions of dollars in new scholarships to working parents across the country.
Thanks to the Project Working Mom scholarship, Casey-Ulery will now get her degree in accounting from Everest University. Online classes grant her the flexibility to attend school from home at any time of day, which frees her from child care worries. Casey-Ulery is home for her children when they need her, and she now sees herself as a role model for them.
"My goal is to do my best so that my daughters can see that if Mommy can do well in school, so can they," Casey-Ulery says.
Casey-Ulery is just one of many Project Working Mom scholarship recipients from across the country. These recipients shared in millions of dollars in the last three successful Project Working Mom campaigns.
The most recent campaign began on Jan.12 and will continue through September. The campaign applies to fathers as well as mothers.
"We launched Project Working Mom as a response to staggering statistics indicating that working moms are an underserved population that simply need to overcome the obstacles of time, money and confidence to achieve the education they need to improve their lives," says Helen MacDermott, content director for Project Working Mom. "But in today's economy, we realize there are plenty of dads who are also in desperate need of financial aid and deserve a chance to tell their stories, too."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, of the 2.1 million single dads in the United States, only 16 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher. "Fathers play such a tremendous role in the lives of their children and it's important that they set a good example by getting the education they want their children to have," says Carey Casey, CEO of the Kansas City-based National Center for Fathering and fathers.com. "Project Working Mom listened to the needs of dads and opened this great opportunity to them; it couldn't have come at a better time for many people."
You could win part of $5 million in scholarship and start on the path to a successful future. Visit
ProjectWorkingMom.com to apply for a Project Working Mom scholarship and get advice and financial aid information on going back to school online.
Sponsored content provided by ProjectWorkingMom/Scholarships. Copyright ARAnet, Inc.
