District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund |Helping Today's Healthcare Workers Prepare for Tommorrow's Workplace
SUCCESS STORIES
WAYNE J. ALLEN
Youthful missteps left Wayne J. Allen, 48, without a high school diploma and with a gloomy future of dead-end fast food and other poor paying jobs. “I was working at thrift shops and McDonald’s. It is hard to get a job without a high school diploma. Fortunately, I had been lucky but I didn’t want to take any more chances” Today Mr. Allen has both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Alvernia College.
What inspired the transformation?
“I wanted to pursue other dreams, I wanted to expand my experiences,” explained Mr. Allen, a Mental Health Technician at Hahnemann University Hospital. Mr. Allen, a 25 year member of District 1199C, started with pre-nursing classes at District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund’s
Breslin Learning Center, entered college, started taking advantage of the Fund’s tuition reimbursement program, and ultimately received two fulltime scholarships to complete his college and graduate school work. Mr. Allen said the journey from high school dropout to college graduate took focus, dedication and sacrifice. “I was also taking care of an elderly mother who was
in the end stages of ovarian cancer but you have to keep your eye on the prize.”
Mr. Allen’s determination was greatly helped by District 1999C’s Training and Upgrading Fund Scholarship program. “The Training Fund paid for everything,” and the financial boost allowed him to double major in addiction studies and criminal justice at the undergraduate level and to double major in criminal justice and behavioral health at the graduate level. “The graduate program
was a two-year accelerated program which I finished in 14 months,” Mr. Allen said.
The 10th of 11 children, Mr. Allen said he is the first among his siblings to finish college. A former union delegate, Mr. Allen was recently elected committeeman in his Germantown ward and said he plans to pursue a political career as an elected judge.
WAYNE J. ALLENYouthful missteps left Wayne J. Allen, 48, without a high school diploma and with a gloomy future of dead-end fast food and other poor paying jobs. “I was working at thrift shops and McDonald’s. It is hard to get a job without a high school diploma. Fortunately, I had been lucky but I didn’t want to take any more chances” Today Mr. Allen has both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Alvernia College.
What inspired the transformation?
“I wanted to pursue other dreams, I wanted to expand my experiences,” explained Mr. Allen, a Mental Health Technician at Hahnemann University Hospital. Mr. Allen, a 25 year member of District 1199C, started with pre-nursing classes at District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund’s
Breslin Learning Center, entered college, started taking advantage of the Fund’s tuition reimbursement program, and ultimately received two fulltime scholarships to complete his college and graduate school work. Mr. Allen said the journey from high school dropout to college graduate took focus, dedication and sacrifice. “I was also taking care of an elderly mother who was
in the end stages of ovarian cancer but you have to keep your eye on the prize.”
Mr. Allen’s determination was greatly helped by District 1999C’s Training and Upgrading Fund Scholarship program. “The Training Fund paid for everything,” and the financial boost allowed him to double major in addiction studies and criminal justice at the undergraduate level and to double major in criminal justice and behavioral health at the graduate level. “The graduate program
was a two-year accelerated program which I finished in 14 months,” Mr. Allen said.
The 10th of 11 children, Mr. Allen said he is the first among his siblings to finish college. A former union delegate, Mr. Allen was recently elected committeeman in his Germantown ward and said he plans to pursue a political career as an elected judge.