Five Questions for Mid-Career Teresa Carrasco-Velez
by Mia Zuckerkandel on December 10, 2008 in Features
Two jobs changed Teresa Carrasco-Velez’s life.
She got the first job when she was 17. While at that job, Carrasco-Velez met her husband. He was the son of a co-worker, and that co-worker encouraged her son to drive Carrasco-Velez to her night school classes. She didn’t like him at first. But over time, that changed. Now they have two children, a 16-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl.
Her second job was at the Boys and Girls Club. As the director of program services, she started the Girls’ portion of the club and created a number of different programs. She still works there part-time, running a program called Raices, which is Spanish for roots. It helps children learn about “what’s beautiful about being a Colombian and being an American.”
How did you get your first job?
I had just arrived in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. I took a Greyhound bus to Lawrence, Massachusetts, which is where my brother was living. I was 17, and I didn’t speak a word of English. When I got off the bus, I heard Spanish music, and I thought, “OK. This might not be so bad.” My first week I was here, I interviewed for a job as a health education specialist. At the time, Lawrence had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state, and they wanted to reach out to [Spanish-speaking] teens. I didn’t think they would call me back, because I didn’t speak English. But they did. They offered me the job on the condition that I go to night school and study English. And that’s what I did.
I worked during the day with girls, not just on preventing pregnancy, but on decision-making, dealing with peer-pressure, and self-esteem. And Monday through Friday nights, I went to school or met with a tutor. I asked my bosses why they hired me when I didn’t speak English. They said, “Your answers came from the heart. Even if you don’t know the language, how can we not hire you?”
How did you decide to go back to college?
I spent a year in college in the Dominican Republic when I was 16. I always knew I wanted to go back to college, but college is so expensive here (in the U.S.). I really, really hesitated. But I knew that if I didn’t go, I would never go. When I got accepted to Merrimack College, the Boys and Girls Club offered me a full scholarship. They are the ones that took me to places that I would never imagine.
Was it hard to leave your job to come to HKS?
I cried when I left. It took me two years to decide to leave. I had to defer [initially]. I was responsible for so many things. I didn’t feel like I could walk away. I had commitments. But that gave me the opportunity to gradually say good-bye. It was healthier for me and for them.
I decided to go to graduate school, because I kept hearing the voice, the same voice I heard when I didn’t have an undergraduate degree. I knew I wanted to go back, and my daughter was no longer a baby. But it was still a difficult decision.
I didn’t think I could make the financial commitment. When I took the GREs, I said, “God, it’s in your hands. Tell me where you want me to go.” I got a scholarship to come here. That letter made me cry. Because then I knew it was really happening. When the money came through, I was overwhelmed. I knew I was starting a new chapter. You see the beginning of something.
The simple fact that I am coming here already inspires so many at the Boys and Girls Club. Some of the little ones, the 7- and 8-year-olds, see me and say, “How’s Harvard?” To have them ask me, to have them make the connection, is so powerful. They know that you can take a train and there you are – at Harvard.
What have you enjoyed most about being at HKS so far?
Meeting the other mid-careers and the other students. It’s like a class that I’m taking without getting a credit. To be exposed to so many people who are doing so many different things just makes me want to go and do so much more. That to me is the greatest thing.
Is there anything people here might be surprised to know about you?
I came here (to the U.S.) and reinvented myself. That’s something I want everyone to know. If you can take the old person and re-create yourself with new as well as the old qualities, you can survive in a healthier way. It’s not an easy task. But it’s one we all can accomplish. I know that.
Comments
Got something to say?
