Update: Angel Pine is now Communications Coordinator for the UAB Department of Pediatrics. Way to go!
After a rocky start at college, Angel Pine recognized that Birmingham Promise was offering her the gift of a lifetime, and she set her mind to make the most of it.
She graduated from UAB in May with a communication degree and a foundation for her dream career in public relations. Better yet, she graduated from college just four years after she walked the stage as part of the Ramsay High School Class of 2021.
The “on-time” finish is especially remarkable considering Angel’s freshman year. Starting out, she didn’t take placement tests and ended up in remedial classes that didn’t count toward a degree. And she wrestled with other issues that threatened to throw her off course.
“I wasn’t taking it as seriously as I was supposed to,” she said. “I wasn’t able to focus. I wasn’t confident in my studying skills; I was doubting myself. I was in a friend group that was not benefiting me. I didn’t really want to do what I needed to do.”
By the time she finished that year, she had made little progress toward a college degree, and she seriously considered dropping out. But as she weighed her decision, she had a life-changing moment of clarity.
‘This is an opportunity’
“I’m getting a college education for free. Birmingham Promise is giving me four years for free,” she said. “Nobody else is going to pay for this. My parents can’t pay for this. This is an opportunity.”
So Angel got serious. Really serious. Although Birmingham Promise ultimately offered partial assistance for students who needed an extra semester or two to graduate, that hadn’t been decided. So Angel considered 2025 her deadline to earn a degree.
“I was, like, ‘I’ve got to get myself together,’” she said. “I was focused on graduating. I wanted it really, really bad.”
She mapped it out. To graduate on time and take full advantage of Birmingham Promise, she had to take six classes every semester. So that’s what she did. She maintained that load the rest of her college career, even while doing internships and working a part-time job.
Making the grade
Angel succeeded in a big way – consistently landing on the dean’s list and president’s list — with tutoring help as needed, assistance from Birmingham Promise success coaches and mentoring from one of her UAB professors, Jacquelyn Shaia.
“She pushed me,” Angel said. “She made me realize I have so much potential. She helped me improve my writing skills and taught me how to be a young professional. She helped me understand the importance of networking and who you know and how they remember you. What you don’t get in a college classroom, she taught us.”
Angel had set her sights on a communication career as far back as middle school. But it was a concentration in public relations, she said, that “really made me realize what I want to do in life.”
She engaged in professional organizations such as the Public Relations Council of Alabama and the Public Relations Student Society of America. She worked on award-winning campaigns, including her capstone project for the Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School.
Along the way, Angel developed storytelling, graphic and people skills, worked as a communications intern at Alabama Public Television and continues to work as an intern at the UAB Department of Neurosurgery.
Giving back to the community
Looking forward, she hopes to work in the nonprofit world where she can give back to the community – a goal that she has “solely because of Birmingham Promise.”
As she considers her journey, she has advice for other students in Birmingham City Schools, including her own brother, who is set to graduate from Ramsay in two years.
“Going to college for free is a privilege everyone deserves, but as a Birmingham City Schools graduate, I know how truly blessed we are to have this opportunity through Birmingham Promise,” she said. “My advice to any student is simple: Don’t take this gift for granted — use it to build the future you dream of.”
