When Tori Schemm graduated from Churubusco High School in 2012, she didn’t have a lot of college options. Because of low SAT scores, she says, a number of colleges wouldn’t accept her.

But Schemm got into Ivy Tech Northeast, which doesn’t require having taken the SAT exam, and she’s finding success, due in part to the Bridge to Success Academy.

Bridge to Success is geared toward students who maybe need a little extra help to prepare for a college schedule. Students in the academy go over math and writing, computer literacy, study skills, time management, and more in its effort to get students ready for college.

Tori is taking five classes this semester. She lives in Churubusco and spends her break between classes from 10:45 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mondays on campus, often studying in the library.

The program is for new students, and Tori says it made a difference for her.

“That really brought my confidence up,” she says. “It told me where the disability center is, and it got me some new friends.”

Tori has a learning disability that makes it difficult to absorb information by reading—it “doesn’t really click,” she says. She learns best by watching and listening.

This has had an effect on her studies: Tori is stuyding to be a teacher. When she graduates with her associate degree, she hopes in spring 2015, she wants to go on for her bachelor’s degree and get a minor in special education so she can work with fourth and fifth graders.

“When I’m a teacher, I can help kids who have learning disabilities because I can understand,” Tori says. “I have a heart for kids.