Edna’s dream is to teach elementary school, and thanks to two Fresh Start mentors, that dream has stayed alive despite many life changes.
When Edna joined the mentoring program, she had just won a Nina Mason Pulliam scholarship to pursue her Associates degree at Phoenix College. But she was a single mother and unsure of how she was going to juggle motherhood and college. Her first mentor, Kim, was kind and loving, and Edna was able to build a trusting relationship with her where she could say anything; a deeper and more meaningful relationship than she had ever had outside of her family. Because of her mentor’s support, Edna gained faith in herself and her ability to reach her goals.
But Kim moved away, and as Edna waited for a new mentor, she married and soon became pregnant. In the face of these dramatic life changes, Edna found it harder and harder to focus on school, but her next mentor, Heather, became her rock. Edna returned to classes three weeks after her second daughter was born, and with Heather’s encouragement, she managed to stay in school, receiving her degree in May 2005.
With Heather’s help, Edna applied to ASU and is now working on her bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in Spanish and a minor in music education. Edna feels that she is now ready to give something back to the program that gave so much to her – and is ready to become a mentor herself. Overall, she feels that her experience as a mentee has helped her learn who she is, and she now really likes and respects herself. With self-knowledge and self-esteem like Edna’s – and like so many graduates of our mentoring program – the future is unlimited!