Student Spotlight

"I’ve been in foster care all my life. The statistics say that when you aren’t raised with your parents, you won’t be as exceptional as everyone else. They also predicted that I would end up pregnant by age 16, on drugs or in jail. I wasn’t supposed to be the success story that I am.

"I enrolled in Waterbury Youth Service’s 'Career Builders in Health' Program to earn my CNA certification so that I can help people who are sick. My mom is sick, my father was sick and passed away, my grandmother too. If there’s a way for me to help other sick people, I want to do it.

"By becoming a CNA, I will show that statistics are just numbers. They don’t define you unless you let them. Some days, class is really challenging. You have to put in a lot of extra effort. But I think of everything I want to achieve for myself and the people I can help and I know I GOT THIS!"

Casandra Nazario, Student in WYS's new "Career Builders in Health" program.