At Last!

“With the acceptance letter, there was a moment of relief for me because I was like, 'It's all good now. Everything is kind of falling into place the way it should.'”

She’s in!

Last month Brittnie Pemberton got the news she had been waiting almost eight years to receive; she has been admitted to San Diego State University for the fall of 2015.

After checking the SDSU admissions website every day for weeks, she was riding in a van with her mom, Tanya, and a group of Salvation Army fundraisers. She checked the site and there it was. Tanya will never forget the moment:

“She hit me really hard and she goes, 'Mom, Mom, Mom!' And I was like, 'What? What are you hitting me for?' She was like, 'I got accepted!’ I was just so excited for her.”

“I was really happy,” Brittnie recalled. Happy because that moment was the culmination of half a lifetime of uncertainty that began with Brittnie, her mom and her younger brother, Justin, living in a San Diego Salvation Army homeless shelter.  Alcohol and substance abuse had left the Pemberton family facing an insecure future.

Pictures of hope

Then Brittnie met Linda Solomon, a photojournalist who created the Pictures of Hope project to raise awareness of the plight of homeless children. Through the program, Solomon gives homeless children disposable cameras to take pictures representing their hopes and wishes. The photos are featured on greeting cards which are sold to raise money for charities that help the homeless.

Brittnie snapped a photo of SDSU and wished for “a scholarship.” During a campus visit that Brittnie and Tanya believed was to help publicize the greeting cards, they met the university’s now-retired president, Stephen L. Weber.

Weber surprised the 10-year-old fifth grader with the offer of an SDSU scholarship to be paid for by the SDSU Alumni Association. It was up to her to get good grades, graduate from high school and qualify for SDSU admittance.

Joy and relief

Brittnie has thought of very little else ever since. In June she will graduate from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Los Angeles County with a GPA likely to be above 3.6.

“With the acceptance letter, there was a moment of relief for me because I was like, 'It's all good now. Everything is kind of falling into place the way it should,'" she said. “It was like overwhelming joy and relief."

SDSU has accepted Brittnie with a psychology pre-major. Her high school psychology instructor believes she has an aptitude for the field.

"She is an excellent student,” said John Wheeler, who has also been Brittnie’s instructor for a sociology course at a nearby college. “She’s got everything it takes to be very successful in college.” 

Traveling a new path

In fact, Brittnie has already taken four advance placement courses and will enter SDSU with a 4.0 GPA. 

She must maintain a 3.0 GPA over the course of her SDSU attendance to qualify for the scholarship that will cover her tuition and fees.

Just 10 days after her high school commencement, both of Brittnie’s parents will graduate from the Salvation Army’s seminary. They will be pastors for the organization that helped reunite their family.

Upon their graduation, Tanya and Timothy will be assigned as officers and could be relocated anywhere in the country. “We hope to be in the recovery ministry — that's where our passion and our heart is,” Tanya said.

The family now travels a new path. Each of them has come a long way from that Salvation Army homeless shelter in San Diego.

“It's been almost eight years since we found out that Brittnie got that scholarship and she has been on course this whole time for this moment,” Tanya said. "It seems like not only a lifetime ago but totally different people. It's like I can't believe that's my past, you know?”

A different direction

With a photo, a wish and then hard work, Brittnie has helped change her family’s fortunes and very likely their future.

“In our family, nobody has ever gone to college,” Tanya said through tears. “She's the first one ever accepted. I'm so proud of her.  There's no way I could be prouder.”

And to the SDSU alumni who have contributed to making Brittnie’s scholarship possible, a proud and deeply grateful mother offers her heart-felt thanks.

"They have really changed a little girl's life forever and not only her life, but generations to come. Her kids, her grandkids, and many lives will be changed from this one opportunity they gave to one little girl who had a dream. I know she will make everybody proud."

Brittnie shares her mother’s sentiment in offering her own appreciation.

"I just want to tell them thank you so much because my life would definitely be going in a totally different direction if it weren't for the scholarship. This is definitely reassuring that I have this opportunity and it has changed my life.

“I'm just really excited to go to SDSU."