My name is Reyna Terrell and I am a parent of a child transitioning to kindergarten from HECC’s Sheila Reynolds Berner Family Center. After five and a half years of being in the program, my daughter and I are leaving the Family Center with so much gratitude and appreciation towards every person we have come across.
My daughter started at the Family Center when she was just 6 months old. I was a single mother who desperately wanted to go back to school. Just a few months after putting her into the program, I went back to school and started working as a nanny to try and make ends meet. I never imagined leaving my child with anyone other than my mother, so putting her in daycare was very hard for me, I didn’t know if any daycare center would be as good to my child as my mom and I. But that feeling quickly changed when I realized how amazing HECC’s staff Alejandro, Deithy and Amberle were with the kids. The love, the attention, and the dedication to those kids was amazing. I was able to go to school and to work without worrying whether or not my child was in good hands, because I knew she was.
A year after she started attending HECC’s preschool, I got a job as the paraprofessional at the Family Center. I was so proud to be able to be a part of such an amazing organization. An organization that helps so many families and an organization that helped my mother. I attended HECC as a child as well. Thanks to the organization, my mom was able to provide for me and her. When I say I am grateful for HACC, I mean I am grateful not only as a mother but as a former student.
Once she transitioned to the preschool room she blossomed into an extremely smart and independent girl. Sheila and Sharon have helped her grow in such an amazing way. The teachers we have come across have been heaven sent.
They are educators that truly care about the profession that they are in and, most importantly, they care about their kids. In the two year she’s been in the preschool room, I have seen such a beautiful transformation in her and I don’t think any other place would have been able to help her grow in the way that HECC helped her.
Now that our time at the Family Center has come to an end, I can’t help but look at my daughter and see what an amazing journey it has been. At five years old my daughter is almost reading, is a brave little firecracker, and knows she can conquer anything this world throws at her, and it is all thanks to the staff at the Family Center. It is so hard to have to put her in the hands of a new school and new teachers and staff. I don’t think there is another place as amazing as HACC.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone at the Family Center. Without Stephania, Rebecca, Amberle, Alejandro, Deithy, Norma, Sheila and Sharon, my child would not be where she is today. We are so sad to leave the organization, but am so thankful we had the opportunity to learn and grow from it. HECC will forever be in our hearts.
