03/10/2016
Humans of New York
“I didn’t go to college until I was fifty. I was working as a custodian and it just got tiresome. You could find me in the exact same place, at the exact same time, every single day. Clean the halls, clean the classrooms, clean the bathroom. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled. I started going to college classes on the nights and weekends. It was difficult because I was always tired. There’d be times when I didn’t want to do an assignment or I didn’t want to go to school because it was raining. But my professors kept telling me: ‘You’re not looking for a job anymore. You’re looking for a career.’ I graduated five years ago with my BA. Then 2.5 years later I got my Masters. Now I’m a parent coordinator at the same school where I worked as a custodian. I get to counsel parents about how their children can get the most out of school. My confidence has doubled. I used to be unsure about speaking up, because I didn’t feel qualified to offer my opinion, but now I’ll stop parents on the street-- just to make sure that their child is on the right track. Some people in my position get stressed when they’re given a heavy workload, like: ‘Why do I have to do this?’ I always think: ‘I get to do this.’ I’ve been working in the Department of Education for thirty years, so I could retire next year with benefits. But I don’t want to. Because I love my job. Every day is different.”
