“While living out of my car, I attended HCC. I couldn’t imagine at the time that I would be anchoring a news desk at a television station just three years after graduation.”

— Damon Arnold, 2015 HCC Honors Program Graduate. News anchor for WALB News 10 in Albany, Georgia

After moving from Kansas City, Missouri to Tampa for a job, I decided to attend HCC full-time. Attending college was a struggle, both financially and academically. My roommate left without notice and I couldn’t afford to live alone, so I ended up living and studying in my car for several months. Through this turmoil, my professors were amazing and they not only helped me get through the lower level classes, which I desperately needed, but they saw in me a potential that I had not seen in myself. I owe a huge debt of thanks to HCC Professor Nerissa Lamison, the Radio Television Director at the Ybor Campus. She saw me speak one day and convinced me to change my major from Theater to broadcast journalism. I graduated from HCC’s Honors Program and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism from Florida A&M University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Today, I’m a news anchor for WALB News 10 in Albany, Georgia. Thank you, HCC!