P10
August 2012
F
orger, thief, prostitute, drug addict and now…
GCU online student.
“God can do anything,” says
LaTwan Gibbs
, who is
on track against all odds to graduate in 2014 with
a bachelor’s degree in counseling that would make
her the first in her family to graduate from college.
A conversation with Gibbs, 40, who lives in the
town of Center, Texas, less than 20 miles from the
Louisiana border, provides ample material for a
book or made-for-TV movie.
Three stints in the state penitentiary and dozens of
trips to jail. At least six tries at drug rehab. In short,
a series of serious problems.
“I was a beast,” she says, and the unsavory details of
a 13-year stretch of her life do little to dispel the
notion. “There’s nothing I didn’t do.”
The trouble began in August of 1995, when she
witnessed the fatal shooting of her husband, a
drug dealer. That began a swift downward spiral,
which saw her habit reach $3,000 a day and her
actions do anything to support it. She says she
was run over twice and had guns pulled on her,
acknowledging that she “should have been dead
a long time ago.”
On Nov. 4, 2008, finally sick of it all, she turned
herself in on forgery and theft charges –
and turned to God for help. She had tried
everything else.
During a prayerful night behind bars, she says, “I
told Him, ‘Do what you will with me, so that I can
be in control of my life again.’” After serving 60
days, she was out and ready to start over, with
friends and family offering support.
They backed it up with a scholarship fund to
help her continue her education. She inquired
with GCU, and Enrollment Counselor
Lenard
McKenzie
took it from there.
“He cared,” Gibbs says. “He listened to everything
I said, and I felt like ‘Wow, I’m not a number.’ If not
for him, I would have gone somewhere else and
I wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic about (my
education). Because of him, I’m still at GCU.”
McKenzie says that at the start, Gibbs barely knew
how to use a computer. During her first year of
study, they talked almost every day.
“There were some barriers, and I walked her
through them,” he says. “She’s doing great now,
and I’m encouraging her to finish.”
Gibbs credits others at the University as well,
including
Academic
Counselors
Sabrina
Henderson
and
Erica Lizarraga
, Financial
Counselor
Amber Timmons
and Instructor
Brian Raftery
.
When Gibbs lost her father to
cancer last year, she says Henderson’s concern
helped her pull through.
“These people have cared about me and they
didn’t know me,” Gibbs says. “They have called
me and wanted to know how I was doing. I am
determined to meet each and every one of them.
GCU has so many wonderful people.”
Active in her church and caring for children during
the day, she says her goal is to be a social worker
and drug counselor, helping others steer clear of
the trouble that had a grip on her.
“I want the education,” she says. “I need the
knowledge to go with the experience. All I want to
do now is give back. God was with me. I know my
purpose now, and it’s to stop others from going
as far as I did.
“I’m not ‘better than,’ I was just delivered. God
made a way for me.”
