NATCHEZ &045; You can’t say they wasted any time.

It’s been less than two years since International Paper closed, and the set of employees who quickly adopted a revised career plan have ended the first chapter of their new life story.

For Beverly Kimball, Eddie Ellis and Ella Singleton King waiting around after losing their jobs was never an option.

&uot;The mill closed on the 31st of July (2003) and on the 16th of August I started at Co-Lin,&uot; King said.

&uot;You can’t waste time. I sat down and said you have to have a plan.&uot;

Her love of people and her experience as a cancer patient in area hospitals led King down the road of medicine, but she didn’t want to be in the examining rooms.

&uot;I wanted to be on the paperwork end,&uot; she said. &uot;I love helping people and I’ve never met a stranger and I don’t plan on meeting one.&uot;

So King’s trip across the Copiah-Lincoln Community College graduation stage Friday night left her with a diploma in medical office technology.

Kimball was in the IP bathroom when God told her His plan.

&uot;I said, ‘O.K. God, now what,’&uot; she said. &uot;It was kind of freaky, but I heard it, biological engineering.&uot;

At the time Kimball had done a little of everything at IP, but knew nothing about biological engineering. Now, she has a community college degree in the field and is headed to Mississippi State for more learning.

&uot;I know without a shadow of a doubt that God’s got me in this for some reason,&uot; she said. &uot;Because the doors have opened to where it’s possible.&uot;

A frequent D student in high school, Kimball graduated from Co-Lin with honors and a 3.72 GPA.

Graduation ceremonies called for plan B for Kimball though, since her 18-year-old son was also graduating from Vidalia High School on the same night. Kimball went to VHS Friday night and walked at the Co-Lin Wesson campus on Saturday.

Ellis said his plan was anything but.

&uot;It just kind of fell in my lap,&uot; the former IP bleach plant operator said. &uot;It was just an opportunity that came along and you couldn’t pass it up.&uot;

Ellis’s opportunity was in respiratory therapy, and once he decided on the branch of medicine, Ellis left IP early to start classes at Co-Lin.

With the first chapter closed, and the rest of the book unwritten, Ellis said his new life is similar to that of an 18-year-old high school graduate.

&uot;I’m glad about (graduation),&uot; he said. &uot;But I’m scared to death. I’m about to go into the unknown. It’s going to be an adventure.&uot;

Once he takes his medical board exams on Thursday, Ellis and his wife will move the Tennessee mountains to job hunt and start again.

Delivering resumes and job hunting has been at the top of the list for King this week.

&uot;My name will have entered just about every door in the city,&uot; King said.

&uot;In order to do this you have to get out there and let people know you are looking.&uot;

The 3.78 GPA graduate has an interview lined up for later this week with an area hospital.

With her son and daughter both in college, Kimball is packing for the move to Starkville to be a college student herself.

&uot;My nest is empty,&uot; she said. &uot;I couldn’t have stood that.&uot;