Students who never thought college was an option for them have learned otherwise.

At the Iowa Lakes Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday evening, three students who have utilized the college's Success Center opened up and gave their testimonies.

Darin Moeller, executive dean of the Estherville campus, said the Success Center has "touched countless lives."

Lynn Dodge heads the Estherville center and Colleen Peltz heads the Emmetsburg center.

Justin Rush grew up with one brother and a single mom with limited means. He wasn't good in school and in high school his guidance counselor suggested that he drop out of school. So at the age of 16, that's what he did.

Then Rush met a girl who was a student at Iowa Lakes who encouraged him to finish school.

Rush went to the Spirit Lake Success Center and got his GED. He enrolled in the college and is now a freshman with a double major in sustainable energy resource and business management.

Rush is a 4.0 student, a member of student senate and wants to become a tutor.

Like Rush, Lisa Ryder dropped out of high school during her junior year. She worked at dead-end jobs, dealt with homelessness and mentally and physically abusive relationships.

She moved back in with her father and found out that she was pregnant. When her dad had his own medical problems, his wife kicked Ryder out of the house.

That's when Ryder went to the Success Center. Ryder was "hysterical and crying" as she went in.

"I always thought I was too dumb to go back to school," said Ryder.

Dodge sat down with Ryder and told her they were going to take one step at a time.

First they tested Ryder to find her strengths and weaknesses. She entered the accounting program where she has completed and internship and found a position. Ryder will graduate this fall.

"I went from being tutored to being requested as a tutor in one year," said Ryder. "Lynn has been an angel for me."

The third student to give his testimony was Calvin Tuttle. He should have been a 1992 high school graduate, but like the others, dropped out.

Tuttle held jobs that paid little and were physically demanding.

In 2000 he went to the Spencer Success Center and worked to get his GED. Tuttle was a student at the Estherville campus of Iowa Lakes from 2005-08.

The Success Center helped Tuttle learn good study habits. So good in fact, that in his second year he made the dean's list. Then in his third year he made the president's list.

"Once I saw the potential in myself it made me strive for more," said Tuttle.

"Your mother would be proud of you," Iowa Lakes trustee Bud Kyle told Tuttle.

Tuttle has graduated from Iowa Lakes and transferred to Buena Vista University where he is a junior.

All five Iowa Lakes campuses have Success Centers that students can utilize. There are three full-time and 13 part-time instructors available 48 hours per week. Students can receive a learning style analysis test, take CLEP and ACT residual tests, find a tutor, get a GED and many other things in the Success Centers.