Bullins Honored With Randolph Community College Academic Excellence Award

Jesse James Bullins Jr. of Asheboro said he made the biggest mistake of his life when he dropped out of high school in 1994. He worked for several years operating tow trucks, as a self-taught auto mechanic, and repossessing automobiles. He got married and started a family. He enrolled at Randolph Community College and earned his General Educational Development (GED) certificate in 2006. But he had higher ambitions. So in October of 2010 when he was laid off because of the economy, he decided to go back to school.

Bullins, 34, enrolled in RCC’s Criminal Justice Technology program in January 2011 with the ultimate goal of becoming a probation officer. “I just want to be able to help someone,” he said. He has excelled since coming to RCC, so much so that the College named him its Academic Excellence Award winner for 2012. Bullins will represent RCC at the North Carolina Community College System “The Great Within the 58” event on April 19 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The awards luncheon is part of a weeklong celebration of “North Carolina Community College Excellence in Education Week,” April 15-21, 2012, as proclaimed by Governor Bev Perdue. While in Raleigh, the Academic Excellence Award winners will attend a reception at the Executive Mansion.

For more on this story, go to http://www.randolph.edu/newevents/2012/2012-04-13.php.