A family tradition of NBCC: Tiffany Hanley

A widow with two daughters to support, Tiffany Hanley needed to build a new career and a new life for her family. She took a leap of faith and enrolled at NBCC. It was a leap she knew well – one she had watched her mother take a generation earlier.

As the second generation of NBCC learners in her family, Tiffany is the recipient of the NBCC Alumni Family Scholarship.

The loss of Tiffany’s husband came five years after a traffic accident left him a quadriplegic with a traumatic brain injury. Tiffany had left her employment to care for him. When he was gone, it was time to start over. She had a road map for doing just that, the one her mother had drawn for her years before. Tiffany enrolled in the Business Administration: Management program at the Woodstock Campus of NBCC, with the support and encouragement of her mother.

“I chose NBCC because my mother had great success with courses she took and because the calibre of education is well-recognized throughout New Brunswick’s business community,” Tiffany wrote in her Alumni Family Scholarship application. “Would I have even looked at NBCC if my mother had not been there to show me that path. I cannot say; I do not know. I could have entered the workforce again and worked at whatever job I could find. With my NBCC education I now have a career path, with an education that is relevant to today’s workplace.”

Like her mother before her, Tiffany is juggling the demands of motherhood with the rigours of college. It’s a delicate balancing act, but Tiffany still finds time to volunteer both on and off campus. She represents her class on the Student Union and volunteers at NBCC events and activities. She is a leader with the Girl Guides of Canada and a driver for Sistema NB Tobique.

“I will be a valuable employee of the company that hires me, and I will be a single mom that juggles work, family and life. I will be an example to my girls, like my mother was to me.”

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