VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The local community has put its might behind a young woman who is doing all she can to stay in college — but funds are running out after a tragedy and a very scary situation left both her and her father homeless.
Cassie Smith and her sister, Lex, grew up in Virginia Beach.
“Childhood early on was good,” said Cassie. “My mom did basically everything for us. My dad was on the road a lot. He was a truck driver. So, he was traveling for work, and he was the only source of income for our family. My mom was a stay at home mom.”
Cassie said a big tradition in their house was decorating for Christmas.
“We always decked our house out in decorations inside and out. We had a big container full of Christmas ornaments that she kept very nice. All we did was decorate. We made cookies. We watched Hallmark movies. It was just such a good tradition that we had.”
When Cassie was a teenager, her family received a devastating blow. Her mother was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. She passed away in 2020 when Cassie was only 15 years old.
Her older sister Lex then moved to Arizona. So, eventually, it was just Cassie and her dad, Hubert. He had to keep working to provide for his family, so he continued his job on the road.
That meant, many times, Cassie took care of herself, and she did a great job. She graduated from the Global Studies and World Languages Academy at Tallwood High School, and headed to college at North Carolina Wesleyan. Currently, she is majoring in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. She also plays softball.
“I’ve met my group of people there and I love it so much,” said Cassie.
In 2023, Hubert was unable to make ends meet. He couldn’t make Cassie’s college payments, and they were officially homeless. North Carolina Wesleyan is now her home, and Cassie desperately wants to stay.
While doing all she could to pay for college, she got another big scare this past November. Her father was missing — his phone was turned off. Cassie could see he was not seeing her texts, and her father, who was normally very active on social media, was nowhere to be found.
“I was like, something’s wrong. I know there is, and I told everyone at school I was like, ‘I’m leaving. I don’t know when I’m coming back, but I’ve got to figure things out at home.’ So, I came back that day and went straight to the police police station and filed a report,” said Cassie.
After hearing nothing from her father for a few days, Hubert finally reached out to Cassie. He had checked himself in to a facility to get help.
“He was struggling with my mom passing, and he never really got to recover from that. He had so much pressure on himself to take care of me, and I think that he didn’t really put himself first in a lot of situations.”
Now that she knows her father is safe, Cassie is trying to afford college on her own. She has loans out in her name, but she still has to pay thousands of dollars each semester to continue her education.
“My biggest concern right now is just finishing my degree. That’s all I want to do.”
With her psychology major, Cassie wants to be able to help children.
“I want to be a resource to them that I didn’t have when I was going through all of this.”
Cassie said the financial office at North Carolina Wesleyan has done so much to work with her. Her friends and family have also stepped in to help.
“My sister and my aunt and a bunch of other family members have helped me start a fundraiser. Initially, I had a previous balance, I think it was $12,500, and that was a combination of last semester and this semester. Then, we started that with a goal of paying that off just so I could get registered for next semester’s classes, and then we would fight next semester’s battle as far as the money when it came to it, but we actually met that goal and exceeded it. Now, any money that I do raise is going towards next semester and any following semesters,” said Cassie.
If you would like to donate to help Cassie continue her education, Wesleyan’s financial office set up an account where donations go directly to paying Cassie’s tuition.
You will need Cassie’s student ID number, which 10 On Your Side has Cassie’s permission to publish: #276312
Instructions for donation:
- After clicking the link to donate, select “Click here to pay.”
- Then click “Pay as a guest.”
- Follow Instructions on your screen.