22 May Full Circle at CITC
Mia torres came to citc as a teen mom needing work experience. Today, she’s a full-time employee with a plan for the future!
Mia Torres’s supervisor really wanted to hire her. At the time, Mia was an intern with CITC’s Nahtsahda Drop-In Childcare Center. But a full-time job at CITC was hers, if she wanted it.
“And I was like, ‘You know I’m not 18?’” Mia recalled. “‘I’m 15. I still need to finish school.’”
Her supervisor could be forgiven for thinking Mia was older at the time. At 15, Mia already had far more life experience than most teens: A single mother at 14, she started working almost immediately after her son was born, balancing an internship at CITC with night school at Benny Benson Alternative High School.
Today, Mia is a full-time employee at the Clare Swan Early Learning Center (CSELC), CITC’s early head start childcare program, where she’s also finishing her Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. The certification will allow her to move from working as a childcare aide to a teaching position.
“[Mia’s] journey beautifully illustrates the full-circle impact of our work at CITC,” said Marianne Fanger, the senior director of CSELC.
Mia first encountered Marianne when she enrolled her son with at CSELC, where children as young as six weeks enjoy responsive care and—for those who want to opt into the Yup’ik Immersion Program—immediate language learning. CSELC goes beyond simple childcare and early education by supporting the needs of working families. Staff provide tools to help parents participate in their child’s education and to assess their development. The childcare center also hosts a number of activities and events meant to help families build social networks of care and support.
Soon, Mia was dropping her son off at CSELC on her way to intern at CITC’s Drop-In Childcare center, where parents can leave their children temporarily with childcare workers while going to appointments or doing paperwork at CITC.
Holding down a job at that time was, Mia said, “Really hard, especially because I had to take the bus everywhere. But I wanted to work and pay for my own things.”
Through her own determination—and from being part of a teen mom support group called Young Lives—Mia attended the Alaska Military Youth Academy and eventually earned both her high school diploma and a GED.
“I felt like I could do anything after that,” she shared.
Meanwhile, mentors from CSELC and CITC were encouraging her to apply for a full-time position. “It really inspired me to look at all the different options that I had. Me being involved in CITC so often, I was like, why not? I’m already here—and I can’t imagine how much better my life could get if I stayed.”
A Youth Services case manager Mia had been working with helped her prepare her resume. When Mia turned it in, she received a call from the same supervisor who’d wanted to hire her before. “She said, ‘I don’t even want to interview you—when can you start?’”
Going from intern to employee was a huge boost. “I was so hype. I was only making $11 an hour as an intern; my third year, they bumped it up to $13.50. I went from that to starting my job at $20 an hour. All my hard work felt like it was paying off.”
Mia was able to buy a car and get her own place. Next, she’s looking toward bigger goals: earning her CDA, then potentially joining the military as a way to learn new skills and travel outside of Alaska. With support from her father, who now has an opportunity to grow his relationship with Mia’s seven-year-old son, Mia is finally taking some time for herself.
“It’s basically another shot at life,” she explained. “I gave up my teen years and just jumped into this huge role. People have told me, ‘It’s okay to focus on yourself,’ and ‘You’re doing great.’ But I’ve always had the mindset of, no, I could do more. Now, I have to choose myself for once.
Her CDA is her fallback, though. With it, she knows she’ll always have a place at CSELC, anytime she wants to return.
CITC can set you on the path to your own full-circle journey. Visit our Navigation center to get started.
To learn more about our early childhood education programs, visit CSELC online. You can also find internships for youth and supported work experiences for adults with our Career Development programs.