Selina Bayless Robbins, a graduate of Northeast Mississippi Community College’s Adult Education program, said she has saved three people from drowning and will enroll at the college this fall to pursue a nursing degree.
“I’ve saved three people from drowning,” Robbins said. She credited a childhood rescue for helping shape her desire to care for others.
Robbins said she grew up in a difficult home. After her parents divorced, she lived for a time with her father, a traveling bricklayer she described as struggling with alcohol abuse. When she was 13, Robbins said she saw a 1-year-old fall into the deep end of a motel pool and dove in to save her.
Robbins said the child’s mother offered money afterward. “I was like, no, no, but she insisted,” Robbins said. She said she reluctantly took the cash and that her father then abandoned her for three days. Robbins said the money allowed her to buy something from a vending machine during that time.
Northeast Mississippi Community College’s Adult Education program said Robbins earned a high school equivalency diploma and is the first person in her family to enroll in college or earn a diploma. Robbins encouraged others considering an HSE. “They should do it,” she said. “You are only going to get older. You might as well go ahead and do it.” The college’s Adult Education program said registration information is available online.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
