Mom overcomes degree of difficulty
By Ira Kantor (From Boston Herald), May 13, 2009
An incubator for future biotech workers in the red-hot industry graduates 30 students today, and Juana Green of Roxbury said the timing couldn’t be better.
Green, 26, a single mother of three boys, age 10, 6 and 1, has been living off unemployment for the past 10 months. In July, she lost her full-time job as a Children’s Hospital food service worker while caring for her younger brother Eric as he recovered from hernia surgery.
“I didn’t know what my next step was,” Green said. “I was worried about how to provide for my family.
”With no other job prospects in sight, Green, a Charlestown High School graduate, found an advertisement for CityLab Academy, whose graduates this year range from 19 to 49 years old. She was accepted out of more than 150 applicants into the program sponsored by Boston University.
After four hands-on biotech and biomedical courses, Green hopes her new certificate in biomedical laboratory science will help her land a plum entry-level job as a lab research assistant and, more importantly, work with people in a medical context.
“I love working in a hospital,” she said. “I want to make a difference.”
Green also plans to take math and history courses at Roxbury Community College to further her advanced education.
“She worked very, very hard and really was very conscientious throughout the whole thing,” said Connie Phillips, director of CityLab Academy. “It was amazing to watch her tenacity.
”Though her home life can be trying, Green says she wouldn’t have come this far without her family’s support. Her brother is a stay-at-home uncle while her oldest son Josiah helped her prepare for CityLab exams.
“It takes a lot of dedicated time and studying to complete this program,” she said. “Every time I take a test and step out there, it’s for them.”