Stacey Evans, 39, was the first in her family to go to college.

Born to a teenage mother who still works in a Ringgold, Georgia, truck stop, Evans put herself through the University of Georgia undergraduate and law school—on a combination of the HOPE scholarship for tuition, and Pell grants and waitressing for the rest.

“All the opportunities I've had in life come from that HOPE scholarship,” she told the Daily Report.