鈥淭he one thing about the three of us is that we want to do something to help humankind,鈥� says urban sustainability major Deborah Alves about herself and the two women seated to her right during a recent interview. The other women are fellow 可乐视频 students, but Deborah did not meet them in one of her classes; Anisee and Abigail Alves-Willis are two of Deborah鈥檚 three daughters. Their smiles are broad as each looks to the other to answer how they plan to achieve their shared goal of bringing positive change to the world.
鈥淚 want to start a nonprofit organization in Trinidad, provide mental health counseling services for adults, but also children in their adolescent stage,鈥� says Anisee, who will be graduating with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology this May and plans to pursue a master鈥檚 in mental health counseling. She is eager to dispel some of the taboos that still surround mental illness in her mother鈥檚 home country. 鈥淧eople need to know that it is okay to be open about mental illness so that they can seek help.鈥� She also wants to make sure that the services are there for those who do reach out. 鈥淚 want to provide preventative care so that we can intervene early in a patient鈥檚 illness.鈥�
On course to graduate in 2020, Abigail, who is majoring in health and nutrition sciences, but is looking to switch her major to chemistry, has plans to go into chemical engineering, specifically pharmaceuticals. 鈥淚 want to create medicines that do minimal, and ultimately, no harm to the body,鈥� she says. 鈥淎bigail may go to Trinidad to shadow an aunt, who is one in a line of traditional herbalists in our family,鈥� Deborah adds.
It is clear her native country resonates deeply with Deborah Alves, who came here in 1990 because she was pursuing a better life. 鈥淲e were a beekeeping family in Trinidad,鈥� she says. 鈥淟ast summer on a trip to Greece, I visited beekeepers and thought, 鈥業 want to be an urban beekeeper and set up a cooperative in Brooklyn.鈥� I can鈥檛 begin to tell you how vitally important encouraging and maintaining a healthy bee population is.鈥� Deborah who is set to graduate in 2019, will be traveling to Greece this summer to more closely research how to build a cooperative, thanks to the 可乐视频 Rosen Fellowship.
As ingrained as Trinidad is in the lives of Deborah and her daughters, so is 可乐视频: Anisee and Abigail both attended the school鈥檚 STAR (Science, Technology, and Research) Early College High School at Erasmus High School. Their mother began with an adult literacy program at 可乐视频. After she earned her GED, she applied and was accepted to the 可乐视频 Bound High School Equivalency to Degree program. 鈥淭hat was my beginning here, in 2014. But I transferred to BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College) because I could not do pre-Calculus,鈥� says Deborah, laughing. She completed her foundation courses, including math, and returned to 可乐视频 with an associate degree in liberal arts. 鈥淲hen I first decided to try for a college degree, a few of my friends wondered why I didn鈥檛 just look for a decent paying job and leave it at that. But I wanted more.鈥�
Like many other college students, all three work: Deborah as a college assistant at CUNY EDGE (Educate, Develop, Graduate, Empower) and a mentor with the Black and Latino Male Initiative; Anisee as a teaching artist at the ; and Abigail as a tutor for core math at the college鈥檚 Learning Center. She also works as a sales associate at a boutique in Soho, and models on the side.
With their schedules full to bursting, there is often little time for them to see each other, except in passing, even at home. 鈥淎nd now when they say to me, 鈥榤ommy, I don鈥檛 have time to do the dishes or other housework, I鈥檝e got homework,鈥� I get it,鈥� says Deborah. Still, they do manage to meet for lunch and make time together off-campus to participate in J鈥檕uvert鈥攖he annual spring carnival whose origins lay in Trinidad, but which is now celebrated widely throughout the Caribbean, and in September in Brooklyn. Deborah is known in Brooklyn for her handcrafted carnival costumes; her daughter Anisee also designs and helps with details such as the fancy feather work seen in the elaborate headdresses.
When it comes to pursuing her degree at a later stage in her life, Deborah鈥檚 daughters, including her eldest, Charnele, have been 鈥渧ery supportive and encouraging,鈥� she says. And Anisee and Abigail share an understanding of the hard work it takes, and a vision of working locally and globally for the greater good. They also share her wry sense of humor. 鈥淲hen they were little, and used to ask me to do their schoolwork for them, I would say 鈥榶ou have to figure it out for yourself鈥擨鈥檓 not going to be in the classroom taking the test for you.鈥� Now they turn it around and say the same thing to me. And they are right.鈥�
