Nichole Brown is living her dream, teaching these Exceptional Education Students at Jim Allen Elementary in Cantonment.

The four-year-olds need special attention to overcome developmental disabilities.

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Nichole Brown/Take Stock Graduate: “The gains that the ESE kids make are just amazing because when you get them, they’re just minor, non verbal, a lot of them. At the beginning of the year it was nothing and then now, you hear words, they’re talking! And so it’s just amazing to be able to help them and know that it’s in there, they have the knowledge. You just have to help them get it out. I love it.”

Nichole graduated less than a year ago with degrees in Elementary School and Exceptional Student Education and started teaching right out of college.

The 22-year-old says she owes it all to “Take Stock in Children,” a mentoring program that provides support and scholarships to students from lower income families.

Nichole joined the program in middle school and by working with a mentor and keeping up her grades, she qualified for a college scholarship.

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Brown: “It just made it so much easier. I didn’t have to worry about finances. I had to pay for my books, but other than that I didn’t have to worry about much of anything. And I got to look for a job that would help me in my field. I worked at Bellview Middle as a teacher’s assistant instead of looking for a job that would help me pay for college. I got to focus more on what I wanted to do to help me succeed.”

Joe Sims is another graduate of the “Take Stock in Children” program.

He and his best friend, Theahmad grew up in Brownsville, a Pensacola community struggling for years with crime and poverty.

Theahmad’s father, Thearthur Thomas, Sr. was Joe’s mentor, who recently passed.

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Joe Sims/Take Stock Graduate: “He was like way more than just a mentor. He was like a father to me in a sense. He pretty much took me in like family and his older sons ended up coaching me in like basketball. They got me involved in church, kept me going, like.”

Joe’s parents worked constantly to support him and his three sisters.

He joined “Take Stock in Children” because it offered him a chance at a different life.

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Sims: “Tired of seeing the same things, tired of seeing your parents struggle and it’s like you want more, you want more for yourself and I think a lot of people want more but they’re not having the drive or not having the opportunity to get to where they want to be.”

Joe struggled some to get through college, but he says the steady support from his mentor, people in the program, and friends helped him become the first in his family to graduate from college.

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Sims: “Seeing my mom and dad work so hard for us to meet our basic needs, it’s like you want to make them proud of you in a sense. And I remember that day when I walked up on that stage with that degree in my hand and seen my mom in tears and seeing all my partners and everybody cheering for me, that was an incredible feeling.”

Joe now works in Social Services, helping kids from backgrounds similar to his.

His success inspired his best friend, Theahmad to get a degree in teaching, so he can also pay it forward.

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Theahmad Thomas: “When he graduated, I said okay, now it’s time for me to graduate and so he inspired me to actually go back to school and I graduated in December from Pensacola State and so it was like when he did it, it was like a domino affect, it was like there is a way to get out of here, we can actually go to college and make something. He did it, I’m going to go now. And behind me, other people are coming, so it was great! Him opening up the doors to graduate, just know somebody who can do it.”

Nichole Brown agrees the support and cycle of success she saw in “Take Stock in Children,” inspired her to stay on track and become the teacher she wanted to be.

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Brown: “It just lets you know you can do it, with somebody else there motivates you along.”