Care Center alumni, Denise Sanchez, is mom to 17-year-old Andre and 13-year-old Elijah. This year, in the middle of the global pandemic, Denise earned her Master’s degree and purchased her first home.
As a little girl, Denise loved to play sports, especially basketball. She was sixteen years old when she had her son, Andre. A motivated student, Denise wanted to finish high school, but she struggled to find childcare and her attendance suffered. Eventually, lacking reliable care for her son, she dropped out.
When Denise learned about The Care Center’s alternative education program for young moms in 2004, she explained, “The daycare is what sold me.” Denise was determined to get off of public assistance. Her teachers and counselors at The Care Center pushed her to keep studying as a means to achieve her dream of financial independence. “There was lots of hand holding,” she recalled, a level of support that was important as she navigated life as a teenage mom.
While Andre attended The Care Center’s on-site daycare, Denise prepared for the GED and took part in parenting classes, humanities, arts and athletics. The art and rowing programs were particularly memorable. As a young mother, Denise explains, she had complicated emotions to process and art class offered a creative way to explore them. Denise learned to row during The Care Center’s inaugural rowing season and still proudly remembers her team winning the Young Parents Regatta that summer.
Sixteen years after graduating from The Care Center, Denise found herself in the middle of a global pandemic attempting to balance parenting two teenagers, finishing graduate school and teleworking. Studying into the early mornings, Denise considered taking a break from her graduate program. In the end, she pushed through by organizing her time, asking her older son to help her youngest son with remote learning, and reaching out to her graduate program and her children’s school for help. Her advice to students struggling to find balance, “Use any resource you can, all of them if you have to.”
Denise earned her Master’s degree in Social Work from Westfield State in May 2020. She is a first-time homeowner and recently started a new job as a clinician in a hospital, providing substance abuse and mental health counseling. Her son Andre has plans to attend Elms College after graduating from high school next year. He is familiar with the campus after spending many hours playing in the Elms library while Denise earned her Bachelor’s degree. Andre is currently interested in computer science, though Denise acknowledges that may change. One thing is certain, Andre and Elijah have seen firsthand the importance of higher education.
When Denise looks back and thinks about what made a difference for her, she points to the support of The Care Center, “They encouraged me. They pushed me. They gave me good advice.” And now, she is sharing those same gifts with the people around her at work and at home.
