Ms. Catherine Munday Charleston Job Corps Center alumni, visits the center while traveling through the state of WV. She took a tour and spoke to an inquisitive group of students in the Medical Office Support trade on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. Students listened attentively as she talked about her start in the program, and opportunities as a result of the academic and career technical training she received. “You are in a great place and the sky is the limit,” said Munday.

The former CJCC graduate arrived at the Charleston Job Corps Center located in downtown Charleston, WV in 1983 from Pittsburgh, PA, at the age of 16. Munday started in the clerical trade while waiting to take her GED. She stated, “I was a teenage mother and high school dropout from generations of welfare, poverty and lack of education.” She always had a desire to complete school and further her education with a college degree.

Being a teenage mother, she knew she had to take advantage of every opportunity offered in the Job Corps program, and she did. Munday took the college ACT exam and passed. She was accepted in the center’s college program for fall semester 1984. Her next stop was WV State College (University) in Institute WV to major in pre-med biology and she attended Marshall University for two semesters during the summer.

Hard work and determination paid off for this CJCC graduate. Munday completed her studies at Carlow College, Pittsburgh, PA, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Certified in Cardiovascular Perfusion from Shadyside Hospital of Perfusion. What an accomplishment for this first-generation college graduate! Additionally, she holds a Master’s Degree in Family Ministry from Winebrenner Theological Seminary, Findley, OH.

She has worked for 25 years in her field and earns a six figure income. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to open and run a business for the last 12 years in Lima, OH. Munday says, “I owe a great deal of my success to the opportunity that was afforded to me through Job Corps.” Her words of wisdom to current and future Job Corps students are, “Take advantage of opportunities provided to you. Dream big and shoot for the stars. No matter where you come from, you can do it.” Ms. Catherine Munday is proof that Job Corps Works!