Carli Cook graduated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but by the fall of 2020, she was taking pre-nursing classes at Appalachian State University and settling into undergraduate life. After two years, she learned that her father’s health was declining. As the only daughter of a single-parent household, she made the decision to return to Marion so that she could help look after her father and work to provide for the two of them financially.
“My mother passed away when I was two days old, so it was just me and my dad,” said Cook. “I needed to be able to take care of my father and start over here at McDowell Tech.”
Cook enrolled in courses to earn an Associate Degree in Nursing. She was among the second cohort of students in this new program at MTCC. Then, during the fall semester of her final year, Hurricane Helene hit. The local restaurant where Cook worked suffered significant flooding and was unable to reopen. Cook was unemployed with only months to go until graduation.
She persevered through the fall semester and started the spring semester, thankful for a couple of local scholarships, but maintaining an outstanding balance. She was awarded a state-funded emergency grant to help complete her education during a semester that continued to bring significant challenges. During that last semester of nursing school, her father's health worsened. He was hospitalized in January and remained there until he passed away on April 5.
“He was an amazing patient and he fought until the very end,” said Cook.

Brave and determined, Cook managed to complete her spring semester courses. She wanted to earn her degree for herself, and also to honor her dad who had been by her side through her tough education transitions. She says it was her father’s memory and the fact that her tuition was paid for that helped her complete her courses.
“The Helene funds that I received not only helped financially, but that money was also an additional push for me,” said Cook. “My schooling was now paid for. I needed to finish!”
Cook graduated with honors and has already passed her state board licensure. She is working as a Registered Nurse at an Emergency Room in the community. She used the remaining amount of her emergency grant to pay costs related to her graduation and pinning. “Most people are excited about graduation,” said Cook. “Nursing students are more excited about pinning because it’s the end of a chapter and the beginning of your career.”
Visit our WNC Recovery Stories page to find more stories about student grant recipients, and to learn more about the people and organizations making a difference in western North Carolina.