Gina Harvell used to sit in Atlantic City's Browns Park looking at the community college across the street and picture attending.
Harvell had dropped out of high school at 17, and figured she would never be inside Atlantic Cape Community College's Charles D. Worthington campus.
“I continued for many more years getting high in that park,” she admitted.
Drug addiction and homelessness brought her there. But Harvell always dreamed of more.
“My children motivated me to become a better mother," she said. "I told myself that once I had a grandchild that I would never use drugs again."
Following her incarceration, her son came to visit her at a halfway house and gave her the news that she would be a grandmother.
"When I came home, my grandson was 30 days old and I never looked back," she said.
In addition to drug addiction, she would fight through breast cancer and start her road to education.
Harvell earned her high school diploma in 2010. Ten years later would come her associate's in science degree in Human Services from Atlantic Cape Community College.
Two years later, she had her bachelor's degree from Rutgers University. She will have her master's in social work later this spring.
Harvell was honored last week with the inaugural Lifelong Learner Award, presented by Rutgers Statewide Division of Continuing Studies Vice President Richard J. Novak at Atlantic Cape's Mays Landing campus.
The award's creation was inspired by Harvell's story.
“We are all here today to say that what seems impossible is really possible," Novak said. "A person who suffered with homelessness, addiction, incarceration can be transformed, can be a success, can stand as a role model for lifelong learners everywhere. We could not think of a more outstanding example than Gina of a lifelong learner.”
Harvell started attending Atlantic Cape with a scholarship from the Powell Family Foundation/Jon R. Powell Division.
“I let my adviser know what path I wanted to take, and she guided me through that path,” Harvell said.
Atlantic Cape President Dr. Barbara Gaba recalled the first time she met Harvell in 2019, during a Pizza with the President she hosts to engage with students.
“That day Gina came up to me and asked, ‘Can I give you a hug?’" Gaba recalled. "She began to tell me her story and how far she had come in her journey through persistence and hard work."
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I had given up," Harvell said. "I gave up in my head so many times, but in my heart I knew that I was there. I was determined to reach my goal of becoming a social worker and being able to give back to the community I grew up in.
"Never look down on anyone," she added. "Never turn your back on anyone because the next Gina Harvell could be looking for that spark.”
Gaba said Harvell is a role model for many who share her early struggles.
"She is an inspiration to all of us,” Gaba said.
“We love heroes. Heroes who do things that we never thought we could do," Novak said. "Gina falls into this category. She has done things and accomplished what many, if not most of us, thought could never be done. She stands as an inspiration for us all.”
