BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - The MI-BEST program with Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC) has given multiple high school dropouts a second chance at a career.

“I honestly never thought I would be able to get into the nursing program," graduate Megan Brady said.

Brady is now a registered-nurse.

“I left high school early because I had become pregnant and the doctor took me out of school," she said.

Brady provided for her family by working jobs that did not require a GED until she got laid off and could not find another good-paying position.

She enrolled in the MI-BEST program through NEMCC.

MI-BEST or the Mississippi Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program is an accelerated program for high school dropouts and other non-traditional students.

Through the program, students can receive their GED, and the program also functions as a gateway to a career.

“There were several classes they paid for; they even give us gas and they also paid for our lunch at the school every day."

Brady finished the program and continued by joining the nursing program.

Today, she is an essential front line worker as a registered nurse, and thanks to MI-BEST, she said she’s ready.

“I don’t think that I would have made it through nursing school had it not been meant for me to be out there helping others," she said. "I’m scared but God has given me peace about it because I know this is what I’m supposed to do.”