Michael Ferguson, Tulsa Community College
Michael Ferguson is a Human Services major at Tulsa Community College. He is compassionate, confident, and courageous in his endeavors to serve veterans. Michael has overcome many obstacles in his life and in his service to our country. Michael’s willingness to continue the battle to make the world a better place is inspiring to the whole community of TCC. He is a leader among the students and respected by faculty and staff. Community leaders admire his vision and tenacity in his quest to serve the underserved. Michael strongly believes his life was spared during combat to make a difference. He has not strayed from this course even when powerful obstacles appeared in his path. Michael is the epitome of what it means to serve others. His spirit of perseverance and dedication to the helping profession is unsurpassed.
-Leigh Goodson PhD, President & CEO, Tulsa Community College
I am a disabled veteran with a dream to enable other veterans to overcome drug and alcohol addiction. I want to help create positive change in veterans’ lives. To facilitate this, I enrolled in the Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Program. I have assumed a leadership position in the Peer Mentoring office by providing encouragement and guidance to fellow Human Services students. I continue to coach new peer mentoring students and I am serving my second semester as TACKLE president. In that capacity, I administered a luncheon to the staff of Operation Hope Prison Ministries to thank them for their service to the community. This spring we will do a project with the youth of Palmer Drug Abuse. I have participated in the Point in Time homeless count, NA, AA, and Celebrate Recovery meetings to understand the needs of the clients I will serve. An official with the Department of Corrections has encouraged me to lobby for legal exceptions for veterans so they may enter Veterans Treatment Court instead of prison.
It was during an internship that a big dream formed in my heart to open a sober-living facility to assist veterans in trouble, coming out of prison and experiencing homelessness.
-Michael Ferguson
