Deja Wallace
Age: 22
Hometown: Williamsburg, VA
Region: Philadelphia
Center: Blue Ridge
Dates enrolled: 8/23/2016- 4/19/2017
Training: CMA, MOS, Insurance Claims Processor

Deja Marie Wallace enrolled at Blue Ridge Job Corps in August, 2016. She was twenty years old at the time, and had been working as a server at Ruby Tuesday since graduating from high school. She is very close with her family, and they had a belief that she had so much potential, so they helped her to look for opportunities to further her education. With an online search, Deja’s mother discovered Job Corps, and Deja decided to apply.
Deja completed two trades while enrolled at Blue Ridge, both MOS and CMA. Doing all of that in less than 8 months is quite the accomplishment, and required a tremendous amount of dedication. Despite working so hard in her career technical training, she still found the time to participate in community service activities such as boxing and distributing food at local food pantries and assisting with afterschool programs at local elementary schools. She learned from her mother that you should always strive to be the best version of yourself each and every day, and that pushed her to work so hard and want to give back to the community.
“Keep your focus, and utilize every opportunity that you can while you’re in Job Corps,” Deja advised. She went on to say, “I hope that every student who enrolls in the program realizes that a free education is priceless and they use Job Corps as a stepping stone to do great things in their careers and lives.” Deja is currently employed with Sentara as a safety partner. Her role is to ensure that high risk patients i.e. fall risks, suicide risks, etc. remain safe at all times. She is in the process of applying to colleges throughout the state of Virginia to return to school for occupational therapy.