Below is the transcript of Monica Diaz’s speech at The Care Center’s 40th Anniversary Fundraising Party.
My name is Monica Diaz and I am the Manager of College Support at The Care Center. Before I joined the staff, I was one of the first four graduates of Bard Microcollege Holyoke. I am also the mother of two beautiful sons, Hector and Adrian, who are here today.
But let me rewind.
College for the First Time
The first time I began college, I was 18 with big dreams and very little direction. At 19, with a newborn in my arms, diapers, bills, exhaustion, and the constant pressure to provide, college began to slip away. I stopped. I started again. I stopped again.
The only call I received during that time was from the financial office asking where my payment was. That call felt like confirmation of what I had already feared––maybe higher education wasn’t meant for someone like me.
Returning to College at The Care Center
What I didn’t understand then is that perseverance does not always look like marching forward without pause. Sometimes, perseverance looks like stopping, gathering strength, and choosing to begin again.
When my oldest son, Hector, was three years old, I returned to college–this time in The Care Center’s Clemente Course. I struggled in the beginning. But I discovered that college didn’t have to feel punitive. It could be a place to discover, to question, to grow.
Something Beautiful Was Happening
Three years later, when The Care Center opened a full-time college, I leapt at the opportunity. I completed my associate’s degree at Bard Microcollege Holyoke, studying at kitchen tables late at night in moments carved out between motherhood and survival.
And during those moments, something beautiful was happening.
Hector, my oldest son, you were watching me.
You sat next to me while I studied, your small hands flipping through books of your own. You came with me to the library, where you thought you had discovered the greatest place on earth–shelves of anime books, games, and quiet corners.
The Reason I Persevered
Now you are in high school, and you remember those days not as sacrifices, but as adventures. Those memories planted a belief that higher education is not distant or unreachable but something you could touch, see, and one day pursue.
And Adrian, my youngest son, you are growing up in a different chapter of our story. You see the stability that persistence built. But I hope you also understand the struggle that made it possible. Strength is not the absence of hardship–it is the courage to keep going through it.
My sons, my boys, I want you to hear this: you were never the reason I struggled. You were always the reason I persevered.
Today, at The Care Center, my job is to help students keep going. I help women navigate housing insecurity, financial pressures, caregiving responsibilities—and sometimes I simply help them see themselves as scholars.
Because we all need someone to believe in us.
My Foundation: Mami & Papi
Which brings me to my parents, my foundation, Mami and Papi, who are also here with us.
You may not have had a roadmap for college applications or financial aid, but you believed I could walk through doors you hadn’t yet reached yourselves.
Mami, when I was a baby, I was in The Care Center’s daycare–the very daycare you now direct. Over the years, while raising us, while working, you quietly took classes at the community college. Course by course. Step by step. Not for recognition. But because growth mattered to you.
You didn’t just tell me education was important–you lived it.
You rose from daycare teacher to director. And without even realizing it, you were showing me what was possible.
Papi, don’t ever think your silent sacrifices went unnoticed. The second shifts, the multiple jobs, and yet still making time to be a present and loving parent every step of the way showed me what true dedication looks like.
You never stopped encouraging us to stay in school and reminding us that if we wanted anything in this life, we had to chase our dreams. No matter how long it takes, keep going! Your steady support and unwavering belief in us gave me the strength to become the woman and mother I am today.
And in watching you both, I learned that success isn’t just something you talk about–it’s something you model through sacrifice, perseverance, and love.
Education is a Legacy
Every time I encourage a student to keep going, every time I choose resilience, that is your love moving through me. It is your example.
Because in our family, education is not a straight line. It’s a legacy.
When a parent learns, a child believes.
When a child believes, anything is possible.
Thank you.
