Arkansas Single Father or mother Scholarship Fund (ASPSF) is proud to acknowledge Bailey Pickle of Phillips County as our October Scholar of the Month. Bailey’s story embodies resilience, dedication, and the transformative energy of schooling.
Bailey is a single mom to her 2-year-old daughter, Whitley, and says that her daughter is her biggest motivation.
“She has been my greatest blessing, and I need to present her that something is feasible, regardless of the circumstances,” Bailey stated.
After dropping her job shortly after Whitley turned one, Bailey realized she wished extra stability and alternative for each of them.
“I made a decision to return to high school as a result of I wished extra for my life than what I had rising up, and to provide my daughter the life I didn’t have,” Bailey stated. With that imaginative and prescient in thoughts, Bailey reenrolled in faculty, decided to complete what she began.
At the moment finding out at Phillips Group School of the College of Arkansas, Bailey has earned a formidable listing of credentials. She holds certificates in accounting, enterprise, and normal research, together with affiliate levels in enterprise administration and medical workplace expertise. She can be working towards her Affiliate of Arts typically schooling and Affiliate of Arts in enterprise administration, proving that persistence and planning can open a number of doorways.
Bailey’s path to ASPSF started when she found the scholarship whereas looking out her faculty’s monetary assist listings. She obtained her first award in Spring 2025, and it instantly offered reduction throughout a tough time.
“I used it to pay on my automobile cost that I had gotten behind on after I misplaced my job. I used to be residing paycheck to paycheck, so I used to be making funds as a lot as I may, however with the assistance of the scholarship, I used to be capable of atone for my automobile cost,” she stated.
Along with monetary help, Bailey stated ASPSF’s wraparound providers have made an enduring impression. By workshops on matters reminiscent of credit score restore and monetary literacy, she discovered useful life expertise that aren’t all the time taught within the classroom.
“One workshop helped me monitor my credit score and gave me tips about the way to construct my credit score again up,” she stated. “That was a giant assist.”
As we speak, Bailey works full-time as an administrative assistant on the Phillips County Well being Unit, the place she found her ardour for the medical subject.
“After I began my job on the Well being Division, I knew I actually preferred the medical subject and wished to remain in that occupation,” she stated. “I hope to proceed working there and at some point transfer into the billing division.”
Regardless of the calls for of her job, coursework, and motherhood, Bailey has by no means let obstacles outline her.
“I’m pleased with myself,” she stated. “I by no means thought I might be capable of return to high school as soon as I had my daughter as a result of my assist system was very skinny. With the ability to attend on-line courses whereas working full time and taking good care of my daughter has taught me that something is feasible with the mindset of ending what I began.”
Her onerous work hasn’t gone unnoticed — particularly at house. Whitley, even at 2 years previous, is already impressed by her mom’s instance.
“She’s been desirous to be taught extra as she sees me learn my textbooks or work on classwork,” Bailey stated. “I simply know she’s going to take action nicely in class when she begins.”
Bailey says that ASPSF has offered greater than monetary assist, it has given her hope.
“I might inform donors thanks for placing your donations right into a scholarship that helps single dad and mom,” she stated. “You don’t have any thought how a lot it helps us as single dad and mom to have a assist system behind us, particularly from individuals who haven’t even met us personally. It provides me a way of hope and reduction that nobody may perceive.”
By her perseverance and keenness for progress, Bailey Pickle exemplifies what it means to construct a future by schooling. Her story is a testomony to the mission of ASPSF: empowering single dad and mom to realize brighter futures for themselves and their households.
For extra details about ASPSF or to assist single dad and mom in Arkansas, go to www.aspsf.org.
