One thing to take from this woman’s inspiring story is that it is never too late for a second chance and a new lease on life because if you are proactive and really apply yourself — even during the hard times — good things will happen.
Good Morning America reports that Mary McCrary, a 40-year-old mother of three from Nashville, Tennessee, spent more than three years in prison and is now completing a summer internship at prestigious Princeton University in New Jersey.
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It all started for McCrary when she was serving time at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center for a parole violation following a conviction for aggravated burglary, and she decided to enroll in a coding class.
The coding class was a part of the center’s Persevere program, which allows inmates to work on and earn various web developer certifications while serving their prison sentence. GMA reports that McCrary decided to enroll in the class “after hitting a breaking point” while in prison.
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McCrary told GMA that she “made the decision to use this time to do something different” and to ultimately “change [her] life.” She was determined to not just “keep doing the same things and getting in trouble,” and taking the class made her feel a sense of “confidence and hope” because she was “working toward something.”
After McCrary became certified in front-end coding, she decided to enroll in another program for inmates at Nashville State Community College to continue her education. By the end of her parole and supervision period, she had completed multiple credits toward an associate’s degree and received an internship at Princeton University.
During the nine-week internship program, McCrary lives on the university’s campus, takes classes related to computational biology and psychology research, and has even been called a “role model” student by the head of the internship program.
