NATCHEZ — Anni Poole is doing everything for her children.

When The Dart landed on North Pearl Street the single mother of four had enlisted the help of neighbors to fix the only reliable transportation she has to her future.

Last week Poole started classes at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in hopes of providing a better living for her children.

In two years, Poole hopes to become a certified X-ray technologist, a job she hopes will pay the bills and give her daughters what they need to succeed.

“I just want to do something that will provide for the girls and not have the struggle I have now,” Poole said.

Her daughters Kati, Maci, Abbi and AnnMarie range in age from 2 to 17 years old. Poole and her daughters live with her mother who Poole said helps out when she can.

In recent years, she has been cleaning houses and helping do paperwork for her family and their business.

“I work here and there,” she said.

Even with the jobs, Poole said she needs more money. She decided going back to school was the only way she could figure out how to pay the bills.

Poole said her aunt who went back to school to work in radiology inspired her to do the same.

“She went to school when she was 55 and has been (an X-ray technologist) ever since,” Poole said.

Her aunt’s story is an inspiration, she said.

“The opportunities are out there,” Poole said. “When I graduate I will be able to work in a doctor’s office, a medical clinic or an imaging center.”

When she graduates, Poole said she would more than likely move to Florida, where she had lived eight years ago.

The move will give her children better educational opportunities, she said.

“Plus, we are beach people,” she said.

To get her degree, Poole said she needs to get her car fixed so she can drive across town to attend classes. Last week, she was able to attend the first day of classes. When her car quit working last week, she was left stranded and had to miss one of her classes.

Thankfully, most of her classes are online this semester, so Poole said she has been able to keep up with those courses.

Even with the car problems, Poole said she would not be deterred from her goal.

“People in my family don’t know how to quit, and we never give up,” she said.

Sitting on her front porch with her daughters, Poole said her children are the real reason she will not quit until she gets her degree.

“I am doing everything for them — nothing for me,” she said. “They are worth it, every bit of it.”