Meet the Students of ACE                  

Every ACE student has a unique story and mix of life experiences they bring to their educational journey.  We’d like you to meet some of them.

Tommie Suggs

“Fear is stifling, but ACE takes the fear out by helping you to reach your goal.”

Most of us have fallen on tough times.  A job loss, an injury, the health care needs of loved ones.  We find ourselves without sufficient resources to manage a life circumstance and turn to others for help.  Some of us view these times as another in a series of negative life events.  Some of us choose instead to see them as opportunities to learn.  Tommie Suggs was eager to move to New Orleans and spread his wings as a young adult, but within two years was displaced by hurricane Katrina and returned to Philadelphia.  The family sofa became home and welfare an income for a while.  Rather than choosing bitterness in response to his displacement, Tommie grew in compassion for others who are struggling and solidified his ambition to become a life coach and serve others.  He wanted to find a college degree program that aligned with his goals.  Learning about ACE through his workplace (an ACE partner organization) he enrolled as a Human Services major and takes classes on site after work.  Tommie is learning new communication skills, being exposed to a variety of human service careers, and helping fellow students by organizing study groups.  He is also cultivating a passion for spoken word and poetry that he discovered in New Orleans.  Read “She Cries” here.

Tommie was recently interviewed in his role as a Program Manager with New Beginnings, a nonprofit incubator housed by Resources for Human Development, in the online social news journal Generocity.