ORWELL — Andrea Tester has dreamed of becoming an English teacher for middle school children. This dream was placed in jeopardy when her father suffered a severe work-related back injury in 2012. As a result of his injury, he was unable to work for four years. Fortunately, he is beginning to recover, but the financial challenges to his family remain.
Enter Kids’ Chance of Vermont, who awarded Tester $12,000 to attend Castleton University, starting in fall 2017. The organization, founded in 2014, is run by a board of directors comprising workers’ compensation professionals from the areas of law, insurance, vocational rehabilitation, and state government. Their objective is to raise money to provide scholarships for the children of workers seriously injured or killed on the job.