Stacy Bernard grew up in Sea Cow Pond near Tignish, PEI. She is 29 years old and married with four kids.

Stacy liked school a lot as a child and did very well in elementary and junior high school. High school was a different story. She found studying difficult because it was always hard for her to focus. She says in class, she either got it right away or she didn't get it at all. She found school boring and wasn't interested in going to class.

In high school, Stacy had lots of friends. Together they skipped class a lot and did things that were "much more interesting" than school. She says some of her friends were able to keep their marks up even though they didn't go to class. For Stacy this was not the case. She remembers she failed Biology three times. However, she did graduate in 1997 with an academic diploma, but her marks were low. She says she always knew that she could've done better and this bothered her.

In 2000, she went to Compu College for 15 months. This course made her realize she was smart and could accomplish much more with her life.

A few years later she realized she wanted to be a Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA). Her mother is a nurse and Stacy had worked in a kitchen in a Senior Citizen's home. She liked working with people and decided she wanted a career where she could help people. She also wanted to better herself and her family.

To get into the LNA program she was told she needed to upgrade her math and biology. In the fall of 2008 her youngest children were one and four and Stacy felt the time was right to begin upgrading.

Now in school, she likes math and finds it easy. Biology is still hard for her because it requires a lot of studying but she has the support and time she needs to learn. She says her confidence is increasing everyday and she now knows she is smart enough to follow her goals.

She says she would tell people considering going back to school that "everyone is smart enough - you just have to give yourself a chance."