Congratulations to Cody White!! Cody graduated last night from J.F. Drake State Community & Technical College with an Associate Degree in Engineering Graphics (drafting). Cody is already working full-time with a civil engineering company (4Site). His benefits include 100% paid health, dental, and vision insurance! Cody plans to continue his education with a bachelors and masters degree. Cody managed full course loads while working nearly full time and finished with a near 4.0 GPA. One of Cody's class projects was on a team designing an underwater rover. A large part of Cody's tuition was funded by a grant to AOD by Intrepid.

Congratulations to Latrice Houston, one of our June 2019 Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) graduates.  Latrice graduated from the 80-hour (10 weeks on Saturdays) course conducted by the CNA Academy in Madison, AL.  Her scholarship was funded by our 2019 Scramble for Scholarships fundraiser.  Thank you to our donors, sponsors, and volunteers!  Hill Technology Solutions Inc (HTSI) and Torch Technologies were scholarship level sponsors.  Latrice was a scholarship awardee in 2018 but due to issues with last year’s training provider, we retrained her at the CNA Academy.  Latrice is now working as a CNA and will be enrolling in a Licensed Practical Nursing program.

Congratulations to Porsha Smiley, one of our June 2019 Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) graduates.  Porsha graduated from the 80-hour (10 weeks on Saturdays) course conducted by the CNA Academy in Madison, AL.  Her scholarship was funded by our 2019 Scramble for Scholarships fundraiser.  Thank you to our donors, sponsors, and volunteers!  Hill Technology Solutions Inc (HTSI) and Torch Technologies were scholarship level sponsors.  Porsha was a scholarship awardee in 2018 but due to issues with last year’s training provider, we retrained her at the CNA Academy Porsha was a scholarship awardee in 2018 but due to issues with last year’s training provider, we retrained her at the CNA Academy.  Porsha is now working as a CNA and plans to start the Radiology tech program at Wallace State.

Congratulations to Shandora Moore, one of our June 2019 Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) graduates.  Shandora graduated from the 80-hour (10 weeks on Saturdays) course conducted by the CNA Academy in Madison, AL.  Her scholarship was funded by our 2019 Scramble for Scholarships fundraiser.  Thank you to our donors, sponsors, and volunteers!  Hill Technology Solutions Inc (HTSI) and Torch Technologies were scholarship level sponsors.  Shandora was a scholarship awardee in 2018 but due to issues with last year’s training provider, we retrained her at the CNA Academy Shandora was a scholarship awardee in 2018 but due to issues with last year’s training provider, we retrained her at the CNA Academy.  Shandora is now working as a CNA and plans to become an Operating Room Technician.

Reginald Roberts was awarded a scholarship for pipe welding training at Global Tech Institute LLc with funds raised from our 2019 golf fundraiser.   Reginald completed his training at Global Tech and is now working in Huntsville for BASF.  Congratulations Reginald!!

Venita graduated the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training program at Calhoun Community College and passed her state certification tests in January 2020.  She is making a career change from sales.  She has been a caregiver to her brother as well as her mother and father which inspired her career change.  Her family has a strong career tradition in the nursing profession and Venita will be joining them.  Venita's next steps are to find a job at a nursing home or hospital while also enrolling in Calhoun for more nursing education to become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).  God is good.

Ashley Battle is one of two scholarship recipients who completed Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training in May 2016 at J.F. Drake State Technical and Community College.  Each AOD scholarship covered the tuition, book, uniform patch, an allowance for scrubs, and the state exam fee.   AOD will also send Ashley to Financial Peace University after she is employed as a CNA.  Ashley's scholarship was made possible by a generous grant from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

Thanks to a grant from Dynetics, AOD will be awarding a $2,000 grant for welding training to a low-income adult at Global Tech Institute LLC. Applications will be coming in soon. Stay tuned for more news.

Thanks to a grant from Toyota Motor Manufacturing, AOD will be awarding a $2,000 scholarship for Certified Nursing Assistants. Applications will be coming in soon. Stay tuned for more news.

Martha Collins completed the Licensed Practical Nursing program at  J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College in December 2015.   Martha worked two part-time jobs as a caregiver to pay the bills while she attended classes and raised her 17-year old daughter.  Martha has lived in the Huntsville area for seven years after moving here from Selma, Alabama.  She loves to help the elderly, especially those who don't have family able to visit often.  Martha passed her state license exam on January 27, 2016 and was hired February 19, 2016 as a full-time Licensed Practical Nurse at Millennium Nursing and Rehabilitation.  AOD thanks Amy Devers of Devers Consulting Group who helped Martha with her resume.  AOD will also be sending Martha to Financial Peace University.  Martha plans to eventually become a Registered Nurse.  She recently married Mr. Myron Johnson.  God is good!

We are very grateful to the Trideum Foundation (funded and operated by Trideum Corporation)! The Trideum Foundation awarded AOD a grant for $3,984 on April 10, 2015. 100% of these funds will be used to fund tuition and book expenses of AOD scholarship recipients. Thank you Trideum!

The 4th Annual Community Career Fair, held March 16th, 2016, is in the books. We appreciate all who helped plan, conduct, and spread the word about the event.  Volunteers included Valerie Curtis of Valerie Curtis Enterprises, Amy Devers of Devers Consulting Group, Mary Gladden of Quantech Services, Robert Holt of ZLA Solutions, AOD board member Tony Russell, and AOD board member Jeff Dennison.  Thank you!

Our first success story is Anita Williams.