ACE Scholarships provides family foundation for a better life

*The names and details have been altered to protect the featured ACE family’s identity

As a child growing in a caring and supportive family on a ranch in rural Montana, Joy would look up at the innumerable stars blazing in the nighttime sky and believe that they were a sign of the limitless possibilities awaiting her in life.

Life did not turn out the way that Joy planned, but she still sees limitless possibilities in the future for her family, thanks to ACE Scholarships.

Joy fell in love with her high school sweetheart, a considerate young man who led the Bible Study at her church. They were married soon after graduation and the young couple became leaders in their local church and were blessed with three children.

Joy looks back on her marriage as a beautiful jewel that, viewed from almost any perspective, was perfect, but contained a deep flaw that undermined her relationship with her husband.   When they separated, it came as a surprise to their families and friends.

“Getting a divorce was the most difficult decision either one of us had to make in life,” Joy recalled. “It was especially hard on our children, who did not understand why their dad was not going to come home each night.”

Joy had been out of the workforce for ten years and needed to find a full-time job. Her three beautiful daughters were being preyed upon and bullied in the local school and Joy knew their futures may well depend on getting them enrolled in a nearby Christian school known for forming students in character, leadership, and a commitment to service.

“I made an appointment to see the admissions coordinator and walked into the school dead broke wondering how all my hopes and dreams for a better life for myself and my family had come down to making an appeal for help from someone I did not even know,” Joy recalled. “When I shared my story, she pulled out three applications for the ACE Scholarship program and encouraged me to complete them quickly as the deadline was approaching.”

The admissions process included a tour that allowed her girls to meet teachers and students who welcomed them and who shared details of the safe and supportive environment at the school.

“I could see guarded hope welling up in my daughter’s eyes,” said Joy. “We had experienced so many disappointments I did not want them to be let down again.”

A couple of weeks later, Joy received a call from the admissions coordinator who let her know that all three of her daughters had received ACE Scholarships and needed to begin to make immediate preparations to attend in the fall.

“Those words turned my world around,” recalled Joy. “When I told my daughters that all of them had received a scholarship to attend the school together, a light came into their eyes that has only increased over the past three years they have been at the school.”

Joy landed her dream job at a local nonprofit not long after her girls enrolled in school. The job allows her to provide for her family and take time to provide encouragement and support to her girls.

“My daughters have taken on leadership roles in clubs and athletics at the school and last summer went on a missionary trip to Peru where they worked with children living in a shanty town on a garbage dump,” Joy explained. “It helped them to understand that, no matter how difficult life may be, we should always be grateful for the blessings we have received from God.”

Joy said that the ACE Scholarship program does far more for her family than just providing her daughters with a high-quality education – it provides the foundation for a better life for her and her daughters.