Donna Hudson of Rockingham will represent Richmond Community College at the N.C. Community Colleges Excellence event Wednesday in Raleigh.  She will join RCC President Dr. Dale McInnis at a reception with Gov. Beverly Perdue and First Gentleman Bob Eaves at the executive mansion before attending the academic awards event at the McKimmon Center.  Sen. Bill Purcell will join them for a dinner where she and the other award winners from each of the state’s 58 community colleges will be recognized.

Hudson has a 4.0 grade point average and will graduate in May with degrees in accounting and business administration. 

“I’m honored to have been selected by the faculty,” she said. “Being here has turned out to be so much more than I expected when I began.  When my youngest daughter was enrolling, it popped into my head that I should, too.  I took the placement test the next day and enrolled for classes the day afterward.  Acting upon this ‘whim’ was the best decision of my life!” she said.

Hudson worked with an accounting firm and in banking before staying home to care for her three children.  While she said she was a “stay at home mom,” she helped two businesses and a church with their bookkeeping needs.  She later worked for 10 years at Mineral Springs School as a bookkeeper.

“Education has come to mean so much to me.  Gaining hands-on knowledge through various positions in the workforce for the past 25 years has been helpful, but actually learning the ‘hows, whens, and whys’ of accounting and business procedures puts past experience into perspective.  I have become an avid student, thirsting for any and all bits of learning that are passed my way by the very competent instructors at RCC.  Through this knowledge, I am now confident and prepared to re-enter the workforce, which today demands so much more of its employees,” she said.

Hudson credits her husband, Ronnie, with being a big supporter of her successful college career.

“He has always praised RCC and said how fortunate we are to have it in our county.  I’ve had fun here.  I’ll really miss it,” she said.

McInnis said the entire college is very proud of Hudson.

“She is a great example of what a student can do with hard work and dedication.  In a college full of excellent students, it is hard to pick just one to honor,” he said.