For Jessica Borroel, 42, completing her GED® began as something to pass the time during a two-year prison term. Borroel had landed in Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women after a bout of “chaos and addiction” that culminated in her 12-year-old daughter going to live with church friends as she served her time.
Having been sexually abused as a child, Borroel self-medicated from the time she was eleven to numb what she refers to as “trauma that comes with its own kind of brokenness.” Add in the fact she was shuffling between foster homes for years and it’s no wonder the pre-teen struggled to finish middle school.
Serving jail time during midlife, Borroel was forced to take a close look at herself. “My life at that time was centered around my addiction. I gave nothing to society; I took from my community,” She said. “I realized I could do more by going to school.”
Despite her limited formal education, Borroel found she thrived in her GED® classes. Her teacher, High School Equivalency Coordinator Carol Sedgewick recalls, “She had a very bright personality; that was clear from the get go. She was focused on bettering herself and would bring in books to read.”
Borroel made such an impression that when one of the teacher assistants left she was invited to take her place and help fellow female inmates with their studies. This experience, combined with winning her diploma, had a lasting effect on her self-esteem.
“It made me see that being clean and sober and trying to apply myself to something, I could achieve it,” Borroel said. “I thought, hold on, if I can do it, what else can I do?”
With Borroel’s prison release around the corner, Sedwick brought in an A-B Tech course catalog and encouraged her to look at program options. Borroel chose to enroll in the Human Services Technology program so she could pursue a long-held dream of helping other sexually exploited women and children.
These days, between classes at A-B Tech, parenting, and her day job, Borroel’s life is overflowing with activity. She is employed at Transformation Village, the transitional housing nonprofit where she found refuge after her prison release. Now sober three years, with a new apartment and vehicle of her own, she and her fourteen-year-old daughter have built a new life for themselves in Asheville.
At Transformation Village, Borroel spends the majority of her time as a Resident Assistant helping women residents with everything from daily household tasks to completing college schoolwork. “I love seeing how they are motivated to change,” she said.
She’s also become a spokesperson for the nonprofit, sharing her personal story at fundraisers and events. Despite its hardships, her story is something she relishes in telling. “I’ve realized I can take something negative and use it for a positive,” she said. “I can tell people what I’ve been through and help them realize, if I can do it, you can too.”
Borroel’s lifetime of hard work is paying off. This spring she was nominated for the state’s Dallas Herring Achievement Award, an award given to students who embody its advocate namesake’s mission of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go.”
Given how far she's come, it's easy to see why Borroel was chosen. The big question now is: Blessed with healing and fresh-earned knowledge, just how far will this gifted woman go?