Elizabeth Date

Elizabeth is presently a senior in the American Studies Program at the University of Buffalo.  Elizabeth chose this major because of her interest in the diversity and changing role of women in America.  She hopes to enter the graduate program in American Studies at UB in the Fall 2001.  Her ultimate career goal is to become an educator at the collegiate level and to help other women become successful despite their difficulties.  Elizabeth, a single parent, is the mother of two children.

“I am presently a senior in the American Studies Program at the University of Buffalo.  I chose this major because of my interest in the changing role of women in America.  I am enrolled in the Educational Opportunity Program and on the advice of my counselor, Sheryl Marable, am writing this very difficult letter.

I guess I should start at the beginning.  My first and most inspirational role model is my mother.  I watched as a child as she struggled with depression and overcame her first mastectomy.  Then, after my father died when I was thirteen, she was left to raise me and four brothers and sisters.  Later, when she was in her sixties, she had a second mastectomy.  The spirit she has displayed in overcoming these difficulties is an example that I live by.

I became a single mother about ten years ago.  At this time, I realized an education was necessary in order to support my two children. I attended Erie Community College for three years.  My skills were not very good at the time so I started out in remedial math and English classes.  At the time, I had not been diagnosed with what was to become a growing list of problems.  I drank as a means of coping with being Bi-Polar as well as suffering from depression and PTSD.  Eventually, I became physically addicted to alcohol and almost died. In 1996, after almost a year and a half in the hospital, I got sober.

Since then, I have used the gift of my life to try and help other women who suffer from the same diseases. I visit jails, rehabilitation centers and halfway houses to talk with women and let them know they are not alone and that there is another way to live.  My career goal is to become an educator at the collegiate level . While at UB, I have worked hard to maintain a 3.35 grade point average.  Next Spring, along with some of my classmates from my Women In Public Policy class, I hope to present a paper on educational policy in the U .S. at the Pan American Women ' s Conference here in Buffalo.  I also hope to enter the graduate program in American Studies at UB in the Fall 2001