One day, a very nice and respectful old coworker told me:

“If you really want to do something in your life, leave this place, get an education, and look for a better job. Look at me, I have been working here for more than 20 years, and nothing has changed for good for me.”

What do you do when life throws a curveball? You’re supposed to keep your eye on the ball, but how? 

Laura has been an ardent supporter of SEA since 2008. In that time, Laura has acted as a program partner at two colleges and served as a member of our board of directors – and now we’re thrilled to have her as our leader!

My first meeting with my Education Advocate was one of the most unexpected moments of my life. She told me there could be a way for me to go back to school if I completed the GED. I still don’t know how to describe how I felt after that moment. Excitement? Hope? That I was finally going to go back to school, that I might still have another chance to see my dream come true?

Having a Master’s Degree in Social Work is a big accomplishment for me. I am a first-generation college student. Many of my family members did not attend college.

I am a multiple-disabled high school dropout, and it was because of support from SEA that I was able to not only graduate from Shoreline Community College, but that I was able to remain enrolled at the University of Washington during a really difficult time in my life.

Throughout my educational career I have overcome many personal challenges to get to where I am now. Growing up in Peru, I was raised with the understanding that my role as a woman was to become a wife and mother. I was never introduced to educational or career opportunities. This carried over into my life in the United States.

My daughter is a perpetual source of inspiration to me. I think my interest in education and learning has sparked something beautiful in her. I am seriously always surprised by her and motivated to keep learning so that she can see someone who has taken a path less traveled (corny, I know). She talks about going to grad school, being a mathematician or an engineer.  I think it’s showing her that she can have dreams that are big, bold, and  difficult, and still reach them. 

School has always been a word that made me fall into despair; the place that made me break down in tears when I would step into the shower at night after 4+ hours of homework. It wasn’t always like this. September 2005 you would have seen a happy small child, shyly hiding beside their mother as they stood in line with other small colorful children, tugging on the straps of their pink Barbie backpack that was much too big. 

South Seattle College has been life changing for me. I am the first to have graduated high school on time and also the first in my family to have attended college. I work full-time at a seafood restaurant and own my own catering business.

Once again, I had to go to through the exhausting process of explaining my situation to a stranger with scarce hopes of finding actual help. However, here is where my college experience changed in a way I did not expect.