Dana Briggs is a 19-year-old student from Ladson.

Here is Dana's video application:

Here is Dana's current situation:

My name is Dana Briggs. I'm nineteen years old and I'm currently enrolled as a full time student at Trident Technical College. I am to major in education, I intend to one day become an Elementary school teacher. I have lived in South Carolina my whole life, and what can I say? I love my hometown.

Yes, this job is an amazing opportunity that I am overly thankful to have; but it's so much more than that. It's a chance to instill hope and confidence in my generation. It’s downright frightening knowing we are in the midst of a depression, and I want to help reduce new fears that have arisen due to the economy.

Here is Dana's blog post:

This blog is about something that is extremely important to me; education. Today education is taken so lightly, students consistently take it for granted. Education is one of the most important assets any individual can have; it's the basis for any great achievement. People have died for the right to acquire knowledge. What is worse is people have also died for lack of knowledge.  Most importantly it’s something that can never be taken from you.

It infuriates me, thinking back on my high school years, the number of students that would sleep, or text, throughout entire classes. It’s near embarrassing that South Carolina is always ranked one of the lowest when it comes to education. It makes me feel, well honestly - kind of dumb.

This is why I want to become a teacher one day. I have hopes that I will be able to initiate the same passion for learning in my students that my teachers once instilled in me. I'm not sure why students take advantage of our school system; but clearly things have got to change.

So next time you go to gripe to your friend about having to go to your next class; remind yourself  of a few of the things I've mentioned here. You don't exactly have to be happy about going, but you can at least be grateful you have the chance to. Education is not a right but a privilege, and I'm sure many of our ancestors that did not have the access to knowledge like we do today would agree.

Dana