Damaris Hernandez is an 18 year old Out of School Youth student originally from Nacagdoches County, Texas. Damaris, her two sisters, and her father lived in Texas for much of her life and traveled back and forth from Mexico. Damaris and her sisters dropped out of high school at a young age, and began to travel around the United States doing farm work with their father. They traveled to South Dakota, North Carolina, and other states before eventually arriving in New York to work at a fruit packing facility. Damaris and her sisters were interested in returning to school to complete their educations. However, when their father became ill and started losing his eye sight, they were forced to continue working at the fruit plant in order to support him and each other. All three girls were under 19 years old at the time.
Although the circumstances in her life prevented Damaris from returning to school, she was determined to continue her education in some way, with the goal of going into the Army and eventually becoming a law enforcement agent with the FBI. In the summer of 2016, Damaris and her sisters were recruited into the Migrant Education Program in New York State, where they found academic and emotional support. Although Damaris did not feel that returning to high school was a good fit for her, the program helped her seek out alternative educational options. The Out of School Youth Coordinator for the regional program helped Damaris through the process of applying for the Job Corps program in Cassadaga, NY. When Damaris’s father and sisters returned to Mexico, she stayed behind on her own and lived at the residential Job Corps Center. With the support of the OSY Coordinator, Damaris was able to graduate from the security track of the Job Corps program in just 7 months, as well as receive her Penn Foster diploma.
Damaris’s journey to complete the Job Corps Program was not easy. Just taking the steps to go through the application process was difficult and time consuming, and she needed to complete this process while working long hours at the fruit packing facility. Damaris also studied for and passed her driver permit test during this time with the support of the MEP staff. Once she began to attend Job Corps, at just 18 years old she was living on her own without her sisters or father for the first time. Her sisters worked hard to support themselves and their father, and to send Damaris a little money to support herself during her studies. Although attending Job Corps was a challenging process for Damaris, she knew that working hard during her months there would create a brighter future for herself and her family.
After graduating from Job Corps, Damaris moved to Texas to join her family. She has a new job as a correctional officer, and is in the process of communicating with Army recruiters. Her plan is to help support her family with her new career so that her sisters can have the opportunity to further their educations as she did. Both are interested in receiving their GEDs, and are also considering attending Job Corps as well. Damaris and her sisters are truly some incredible young women, and the staff of the New York State Migrant Education Program is very proud to have been able to work with them.
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