"This part of your life is so small when you look in the rear-view mirror. And if you finish it without a diploma, there aren’t many jobs out there that are financially viable to you. So, stick with it."
For the Fall 2026 semester, we are celebrating 30 years of Project HOPE with a series of alumni stories. Project HOPE students have achieved many great things thanks to the support they received, and we feel privileged that they shared their stories with us as we celebrate a wonderful program.
Laura Thompson now travels the country for her dream IT job, but at the start of 2001, her life was very different.
She was a student at Putnam City North High School who should have been approaching graduation. But a combination of issues meant she was three semesters behind.
Later, Thompson said she would be diagnosed with ADHD. But at the time, she had no idea, and it only added to the hurdles she faced in earning her high school diploma. Through her friends, she had heard about Project HOPE at Francis Tuttle Technology Center and decided to give them a call.
“I had a few friends who went to Project HOPE, and they were very successful in it,” she said. "They were in a similar situation to me, so I figured I would give it a try. [Project HOPE] was shocked when I had called them, because usually it’s not the student who calls. It’s the parents.”
That decision changed the projection of Thompson’s life. In addition to completing her high school credits, she pursued career training in automotive service.
Now, she is a Senior Principal Engineer at Dell. Though her career ultimately differed from what she originally studied, the skills she acquired through her Project HOPE journey helped her reach for what she wanted out of life.
“I couldn’t get a job in automotive as a woman, other than something in administration,” Thompson said. “The tenacity it took for me to come back from that and still return to a male-dominated field, that’s been an important thing for me.”
Thompson found the learning process difficult due to her circumstances in high school. Once she was in Project HOPE, she said the environment was clearly different, and the pace was much more accommodating.
“The focus shift was definitely present at HOPE,” Thompson said. “You were there because you wanted to get high school done. It helped being with a group of people who were all focused on that goal and teachers who would answer all of the questions that pop in my head, and there are a lot of those.”
Thompson said she found it easier to go from one subject to the next instead of having to focus on one area for longer. She also benefited from a lower student-to-teacher ratio in her classes.
“I could ask for help any time I needed to, and it wasn’t treated like a big deal,” Thompson said. “I was able to bounce around between subjects and do a little bit of this and a little of that. So, in that regard, I didn’t wear my brain out by having to focus on one thing at a time. It really was the flexibility that helped the most.”
Thompson caught up within a year and earned her diploma in December 2001. After attempting to work in automotive service and trying a few other jobs, she landed at Dell in 2018.
After working in remote support, she recently switched to a role in which she travels to help set up and troubleshoot AI systems for clients. This gives Thompson the opportunity to get onto the ground floor of a project and work with her hands, something that led her to the automotive program in the first place.
She encourages students to make the most of any opportunity they get. Project HOPE presented her with the chance to build a life she wanted.
“Take advantage of this opportunity,” Thompson said. “This part of your life is so small when you look in the rear-view mirror. And if you finish it without a diploma, there aren’t many jobs out there that are financially viable to you. So, stick with it."