Family support encourages educational comeback

Wanda's Comeback Story

When Wanda Ivette Cruz ’22, MSW ’23 graduated in 1994 from high school in Philadelphia, she had her eye on going to community college. Then she got pregnant as a teenager, waylaying those plans.

“I had to make a very tough decision—put a roof over the head of my child or be in college,” said the 48-year-old who lives in the Lower Northeast of Philadelphia and works as a client service representative for the city’s Department of Human Services (DHS). “I had to put college on the back burner.”

Nearly 30 years later, Cruz made her comeback, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work through Alvernia University’s adult education Philadelphia Center in Elkins Park. 

“I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said a couple of weeks before receiving her master’s degree. “I had many nights where I cried. I persevered and made it through, and I thank God for that. I’m grateful for his grace and mercy over my life.”

She also found much support from her family, especially her husband, Luis Orlando Cruz, and daughter, Amalie Rivera.

Over the years, Cruz worked a string of jobs, including receptionist, bilingual community outreach coordinator and social services advocate as she raised Rivera and later her son, Matthew Crawford, as a single mother. She married in 2007, but Cruz didn’t consider returning to college until 2017, when Rivera encouraged her, noting that she and Crawford, who graduated high school that year, were out of the house and supporting themselves.

“She chose us first before anything,” said Rivera, 27, who lives in North Philadelphia and works in food services. “I said, ‘You keep talking about school. We’re adults now. This is your time. You did your part as a mom when we were babies. Now it’s about you.’”
 

By then, Cruz was working at a Christian high school as a secretary. One day driving on Cheltenham Avenue, she passed Alvernia’s Philadelphia Center. Cruz had attended workshops there while working at the Salvation Army. Of all her jobs, Cruz said the spell she spent at the nonprofit helping Spanish speaking senior citizens proved the most rewarding. That’s why she applied to Alvernia’s social work program.

“I love helping the elderly,” she said. “I felt I was able to advocate for them. We were able to connect.”

After a day on the job, first at the Christian school, then as a bilingual counselor assistant for the Philadelphia School District and most recently for the city’s DHS, she headed to the center for evening classes over the next four years. 

“At the beginning, I struggled so much with my writing,” she said. Dana Baker, the then executive director of regional campuses, was the lynchpin to her success, Cruz said. “She always took time to make sure we were OK, if we needed help.”

When COVID-19 hit midway through her education and finances got tight, Cruz received financial support through Alvernia’s Hope Fund, established in 2020 with monies from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the university. She also received the Newcombe Scholarship Award that supports mature women pursuing degrees at Alvernia.

With grit, determination, and help from the university’s administration and faculty, as well as her family, Cruz completed her social work bachelor’s with a minor in addictions and mental health treatment; served as president of Phi Alpha Honor Society for social work students, and earned the Outstanding Social Work Academic Award at the Honors Convocation last year.[2022] “School can teach you many things,” she said. “But as an adult learner, life experience comes into play, and it makes a difference.”

Cruz, who wants to work in gerontology, thought she was finished with her education, she said. But Alvernia’s Cynthia J. Corbin, director of the MSW Program and the adviser for Phi Alpha, had other ideas, recruiting Cruz for the master’s program.

At first, Cruz said, she hesitated to take on more education and debt. She said she told Corbin, who she considers her professional mother: “I’m exhausted. I can’t do it.”

Corbin said she wouldn’t take no for an answer, pointing out that Cruz’s strong GPA showed she was capable and gave her advanced standing, which meant she only needed one more year to earn her MSW—a degree that would allow her to find higher-paying, better career roles.

Cruz was convinced, she said, when her husband offered “100 percent support” for the additional education, adding that “God didn’t bring you this far to leave you. Get it done.”

That she did.

“Excellence is in her,” Corbin said. Cruz received the Social Work Department’s Dr. Phyllis Hay Research Award for her master’s research on English as a Second Language programs for immigrants.

“She has credentialed her excellence,” Corbin continued. “Wanda has taken who she is, her compassion and concern, and added the theory, knowledge and skill of the profession.”