Erica Diaz
BA Psychology, Hunter College, Spring 2018
“My greatest asset was that I was homeless.”
Erica became a mom when it seemed everything was going downhill. She left an unhealthy relationship and lost her home when her daughter was a month old. As an uneducated, homeless 20-year-old with a 1-month-old, she says, education is what saved her. It was her way out of poverty. It was her way to build self esteem. It was her way of being a good mother. She went back to school when her daughter was a year old and received a BA in psychology in 2018, when her daughter was 4 and a half.
Erica joined the CUNY student-parent task force in hope of motivating fellow parents: it is possible, no matter the circumstances, to get an education. "Having a kid is all the more reason to strive for your degree so you can be self sufficient," she asserts. Her job on the task force involves creating video content about what it is like to be a parent in college, and coming up with creative ideas to motive and inspire other student-parents to succeed.