New Graduate Ballard ‘Grew a Lot as a Person With Sandburg’
Aaron Frey
Thursday, May 20, 2021 9:20 AM
Campus News
Galesburg, IL
Just two years ago, Savannah Ballard wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her future. Now she’s settled on what she plans to major in, discovered an affection for public speaking and became the first college graduate in her family.
The catalyst for all of those changes was Carl Sandburg College.
“I grew a lot as a person with Sandburg,” said Ballard, who graduated this month with her Associate in Arts. “I’m not the same little freshman that I was two years ago. I’m a lot more confident, I'm definitely a lot more educated and I’m ready and ambitious to tackle a four-year university.”
A 2019 graduate of United High School, Ballard was unsure what she wanted to study as she prepared to enroll in college. She knew that made a community college like Sandburg a solid option, and when her high school class was the first to be eligible for the Sampson Promise, she said “it was kind of a done deal” that she would attend here.
Sampson Promise is a financial assistance program available to Sandburg students who are recent graduates of United or Monmouth-Roseville high schools or were home-schooled in those districts. It covers a percentage of a student’s tuition at Sandburg, based on their length of attendance at the Warren County schools. A similar program, Galesburg Promise, is available to graduates in Galesburg District 205.
For Ballard, who spent her entire K-12 education in the United district, it meant 100 percent of her tuition to Sandburg would be covered.
“It was kind of hard to believe. It almost seemed too good to be true,” Ballard said. “It was just a blessing to know that I wasn’t going to have to worry about working extra hours at my job to be able to pay for college. I could just work on my academics and getting involved on campus as much as possible.”
She joined TRIO Student Support Services (a federally funded program for first-generation college students), became a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and held a work-study position in Sandburg’s Admissions and Records office.
“Sandburg definitely has a special place in my heart because I worked with so many people there,” Ballard said. “It feels like a little community to me.”
In the classroom, she was part of the Sandburg Honors program, made the dean’s list each of her first three semesters and graduated with high honors. After coming into Sandburg thinking she was going to study hospitality management, a public speaking course helped her realize she wanted to pursue a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in marketing.
“I found that I really flourished in that class and that I don't mind talking in front of people,” Ballard said. “That was kind of an eye-opening experience for me, that maybe I could do presentations for a company or big communication projects.”
Ballard plans to transfer to Western Illinois University this fall. Her experience at Sandburg, she said, gave her a chance to examine the options in front of her and prepared her for that next step.
“I think you get more out of a community college. You're able to be involved more on campus and make a bigger impact because there are fewer students,” Ballard said. “There's more one-on-one with your professors. There are more chances for you to be a leader in an organization, and I think a community college is definitely somewhere where every student can flourish and be their own person.”
Savannah Ballard