The Drivers of Success

Staying up until 4 a.m. as a college freshman isn’t unusual by any stretch – but Misty Martin’s reasons might surprise you.

“The year I started college was the same year my daughter started kindergarten,” she explained. “When my husband and I got home from work, it was immediately getting dinner ready, getting the kids in baths, in beds and getting ourselves situated.”

While Martin would tell you the time demands as a mom of two, as well as a full-time employee and student, have involved “a lot of prayers, patience and crying” during those late nights, she worried less about tuition thanks to scholarships awarded by the Black River Technical College Foundation (BRTCF).

The year I started college was the same year my daughter started kindergarten. Misty Martin

“I went on the website and applied for any one I could,” Martin said of the college’s 40-plus scholarship opportunities, including one awarded by Regions Bank. She received the Phi Theta Kappa and Academic Challenge Scholarships.

Stories like Martin’s serve as a key driver for Regions Agriculture banker and Northeast Arkansas market executive Michael Miller, who helps raise funds for Black River Technical College students studying fields like nursing, robotics operation and firefighter essentials, among others. He’s been part of BRTCF’s Golf Tournament Committee for 25 years, serving as chair and vice chair twice.

“When you hear our students speak, you immediately learn how this changes their entire lives,” Miller said.

If you think this committee sounds like a cushy day out on the links, Miller, who uses Regions’ What a Difference a Day Makes program to volunteer, attests it’s anything but.

“We’re setting things up the entire day before and it’s typically a twelve-plus hour event day,” he said. “Our planning for next year starts as soon as the outing ends.”

“Mike has seen this event from its very tiny beginnings,” said the BRTC vice president of Institutional Advancement. “He is awesome. I could not do this golf tournament without Mike.”

The team’s hard work raising funds mirrors those benefiting from them.

Students like Martin – whose path to earning two associate degrees and two certificates was filled with challenges years before she set foot on BRTC’s campus. It included growing up in a house with abuse, a toxic dating relationship and being bullied in school.

“I was not looked at to be the type of kid to make something of herself,” she said.

Then, Martin met her now husband at 14 and discovered she was pregnant at 15.

It would’ve been easy to give up. But Martin knew her story had a brighter future.

“I used everyone’s negativity and hate to keep myself going,” she said of that difficult time. “I wanted to prove something to the people who doubted me. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. And I wanted my kids to one day say, ‘Mom did this; she got through it.’”

What soon became evident is Martin wouldn’t just get through it; she would soar.

Working full-time, Martin enrolled at BRTC. Mathematics instructor Daphne Perkins, who also served as Martin’s academic advisor, describes her transformation.

“When Misty was new to college, she was eager to learn but unsure how to navigate everything,” Perkins recalled. “Over time, I watched her grow into a confident, self-assured young woman thriving academically.”

That transformation also involved discovering literature in Professor Courtney Clements’ English class.

“I was initially so scared going into her class,” Martin said. “I’ve always loved reading, but never really had time for it. I got very into the stories we read. She would ask for our opinions, and I would write paragraphs about them.”

Clements saw that spark in Martin’s assignments.

“Misty was diligent, determined and enthusiastic about learning,” said Clements. “Her responses were thoughtful, interesting and at least twice the minimum-word requirement. She was knocking it out of the park while having so much going on in her life. I hope someone out there finds her story inspirational enough to say, ‘If she can do it, I can too.’”

High praise from an educator about her student who’s now on her way to becoming an educator herself.

Earning a 4.0 GPA with those associate degrees, Martin transferred to Arkansas Technical University to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She’s on track to graduate in the spring of 2027.

Martin and her husband have been together for 11 years, married for seven. Her daughter is now 9 and her son recently turned 7.

While still incredibly busy, life is peaceful and happy – finally.

I jokingly said I would stay at the Foundation until we reached a million dollars. Well, we hit it this year.Michael Miller, Regions Agriculture banker and Northeast Arkansas market executive

Martin shares her story of overcoming the odds with donors at Black River Technical College Foundation events.

“I’m an open book; I tell everyone,” she said. “I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced what I’ve experienced. I don’t want anyone to be ashamed. You don’t have to let it push you down and make you small. You can be more from it.”

It’s a moving message for Miller, whose own daughter is a sophomore at BRTC. And a reminder of why he’s been at this for so long.

“I jokingly said I would stay at the Foundation until we reached a million dollars,” he said. “Well, we hit it this year. My term technically expires next June, but I’ll still be around. I’ll do whatever they need.”