Alumni Profiles

When Korrine Maher enlisted in the Navy at 25, she envisioned a future as a Navy pilot. One year into her service, the aviation structural mechanic fell 20 feet while maintaining a helicopter. She blacked out on the asphalt, her head slamming the pavement first, and suffered a traumatic brain injury that derailed her plans […]

Horace Linton used to tinker on cars. After graduating from Tidewater Community College, he turned the hobby into a career. “I was actually able to see what it means that education is key because it can help you secure your employment and earnings and then supply your dreams, whether it be the white picket fence […]

Sandra Nwogu loves the idea of helping people but diving directly into a nursing program seemed like too big a step. By earning her Career Studies Certificate in Nurse Aide at Tidewater Community College, she not only laid a foundation for her future, she prepared herself for immediate employment. “TCC gives you all the resources […]

When Kevin Zerbe graduated Bayside High School, his GPA was 1.8. Today he is a PhD candidate at Montclair State University. Zerbe, 31, is grateful for the second chance he found at  Tidewater Community College. Admittedly, it wasn’t the academic offerings at TCC that led him here. When his friends attended TCC, he essentially tagged […]

Husband and wife Tyler and Sammi Walker both got hired while they were still students at Tidewater Community College. Graduating with zero debt allowed the Hickory High School sweethearts to become homeowners at Las Gaviotas.  Sammi’s path: The 2015 Hickory graduate considered going away to college as her 4.2 GPA made her competitive at the […]

Bianca Wilson got stumped writing her own obituary. What sounds like an awkward college assignment turned into an enlightening moment for the woman who would one day become the first African-American female train conductor at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY). The Tidewater Community College alumna and Navy wife shared her story with students during a keynote […]

Many of TCC’s certificate programs and associate degrees lead to immediate employment or in some cases, employment while you’re still in college. We will be featuring these on an occasional basis in our series “From here, go to work.” Here’s a look at one option. Here’s how: Earn an Associate of Applied Science in Administrative […]

Vinnie Lanier started classes at Tidewater Community College in 1976. During her 40-plus years here, the Norfolk resident earned more than 128 credits, taking classes that caught her fancy and kept her mind sharp. Lanier, 85, lost her life on Feb. 17, after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Norfolk. “Ms. Vinnie was a […]

A visit from a Tidewater Community College career coach resonated with Granby High student Alexis Knight. Growing up in low-income housing, Knight didn’t plan on going to college. No one from her family ever had. Today the 22-year-old is a TCC graduate working toward her bachelor’s in human services at Old Dominion University. She takes […]

A week into her dream school, Markeil Blow realized she wasn’t ready to be there. The Norcom High graduate missed home. She didn’t want to commit to the rigorous ROTC regimen for four years – and it was that scholarship that made attending George Washington University affordable in the first place. Tidewater Community College was […]