“I’m where I’m at in my career and my personal life because of Hill Learning Center.”
It is a bold statement, but Courtney Morsberger, who attended Hill Learning Center for her junior and senior years, understands the impact of well-timed services for adolescents in need.
Since 2017, she has worked for the Children’s Home Society of Florida, a nonprofit organization that provides child welfare supports, including foster care and adoption services, counseling, outreach programs, and early childhood services.
“My position is small in the grand scheme of things, but I play a role in helping children find better lives, and that makes me feel really fulfilled,” she explains with humility.
Courtney has not always felt so confident, capable, and content. High school was difficult for Courtney; like many students with yet-undiagnosed learning differences, she often felt lonely and lost.
“I was a C or D student, barely passing. My parents and I weren’t sure I’d get into college if I applied,” she remembers.
Finally, in her sophomore year, she received a diagnosis of ADHD and a math processing disorder, thanks to her lacrosse coach, who referred her to Duke Child Development & Behavioral Health Clinic for testing. Duke, in turn, referred Courtney’s family to Hill Learning Center, where she began taking classes in the fall of 2008, at the start of her junior year.
“I started at Hill the same time I started being medicated, and it was a total game changer,” she recalls with gratitude.
Like many students new to Hill, Courtney remembers “not knowing what to expect or what it was going to be like.” However, she appreciated the “very welcoming” atmosphere and after a few short weeks, she realized she “could ask for help much more easily.”
One of the Hill teachers who provided Courtney with the most impactful support was Kathy Klein, who taught academic writing until she retired in 2016.
“Learning how to be a meaningful notetaker helped me get better at studying,” Courtney explains. With a chuckle, she adds, “I still remember Ms. Klein’s step-by-step process of highlighting an article to take notes while thinking about what I wanted to include in my written paragraphs.”
Courtney explains, “I always had the dream of going to college but Hill helped prepare me for the experience.”
After graduating from Chapel Hill East High School in 2010, Courtney enrolled in Guilford College, graduating in 2014.
“If I hadn’t had that writing class my senior year, I wouldn’t have done well at Guilford,” she admits. But Courtney hit her stride in college, graduating in four years as a double major in sociology and elementary education, all while playing a varsity sport, lacrosse.
Nowadays, in her current role as advancement and data services manager for the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Courtney still uses her “Hill skills” regularly.
“I found a career that truly fulfills me and where I get to make a difference,” Courtney shares, listing a career with a child welfare focus as one of her proudest accomplishments.
Among her other sources of pride is her fiance Gerald, with whom she is expecting her first child in December of 2023.
Courtney can list many things she looks forward to, but she knows she would not be where she is today without the educational support she received at Hill Learning Center.
“I don’t know how I would have succeeded without the help of Hill.”