TAMPA TRIBUNE March 17, 2007
Women Embrace Migrant Roots
WIMAUMA - Manuela Perez, Leandra Bence and Raquel Rocha of Wimauma spoke of their youth one recent morning at a gathering in Tampa. No malls. No beaches. No time to hang out with friends.
Instead, they helped their parents pick strawberries and tomatoes under the hot Florida sun or pluck oranges from trees in nearby groves.
Now in their early 20s, the women attend the University of South Florida, but they plan to return to Wimauma and the migrant farmworkers they left behind - and they are prepared to make a difference.
Perez, an American Studies major, expressed their shared sentiment.
"I want to return to south Hillsborough County and bring back the skills I've been getting," she said.
The women hope to reach their goals thanks in part to All Sports Community Service, a Tampa-based organization started in 1991 by Tyrone Keys, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end. The nonprofit group, which initially focused on budding athletes, helps anyone who otherwise lacks the support and resources to get to college.
Keys, who also played for the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers, has mapped out a step-by-step plan.
"Our primary function is to keep kids in high school, have them finish and go off to college," said Chris Whidden, director of grants and scholarships, who finds funding for students.
Perez, Bence and Rocha, seniors at the university, have benefited from her efforts.
A Vision For The FutureKeys, who lives in Tampa, stresses a can-do attitude as the first step toward a better life.
He said it is hard for students starting their education to realize what waits at the end of the road.
"I couldn't conceptualize the entire journey when I was young," Keys said.
He pointed to colorful posters on the wall, each depicting a particular student's journey to college graduation. He said he hopes those who made it, some against great odds, will serve as an inspiration to new students.
"Here a student can envision the end," he said.
The three women have a clear picture of their endpoints.
Perez, who will graduate in spring, is including AmeriCorps in her plans. The organization is a network of local, state and national volunteers who work in education, health, public safety and the environment.
Two years as a volunteer at the Ruskin public library awakened Perez to the possibilities, so a master's degree in library science also is in the plans.
"I want to draw Spanish speakers to the library," she said. "Many in the farm working community see libraries as formal institutions, not for them."
Perez wants her community to easily access information and to learn computer skills at the library.
Bence steeled her spine to succeed when a former high school guidance counselor discouraged the children of farmworkers from taking the SAT college entrance exam.
"She didn't think I'd ever be able to go to college," Bence said.
In fall, Bence will enter a dual program in social work and public health, hoping to earn a master's degree in both.
"My goal is to open an after-school center tutoring kids," she said. "I also want to teach teenagers about abstinence, avoiding pregnancy and other health issues."
She plans to learn sign language as well to teach the deaf.
Support From Parents, TeacherThe youngest of six children, Rocha received parental encouragement to get an education.
"Our punishment if we didn't want to go to school was that we'd have to go work on the farm with them," she said of her parents.
Inspired by a social studies teacher at East Bay High School who Rocha said "made school fun and educational at the same time," she decided to become a teacher.
"I feel it would help the students if they saw someone who looks like them who succeeded," she said.
Keys' program requires more than getting a degree.
Students helped by All Sports must give something back to the community. To that end, he involves them in numerous local charities.
Perez, Bence and Rocha began working at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa last year. They cooked turkeys for the homeless at Thanksgiving and made up the cleaning crew. They also returned to help serve Christmas dinners.
Some do other volunteer work as well. Rocha tutors migrant teenagers to earn their GED diplomas. She works through the High School Equivalency Program at the University of South Florida under the direction of Patrick Doone.
Bence volunteers as a tutor at Ruskin Elementary School.
The women have received assistance beyond All Sports. The College Assistance Migrant Program financially helps students from farmworker backgrounds to get through their first year of college.
Then others stepped in.
The Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center, which uses donations to fund worthy causes, just awarded $5,000 to be divided among the three women and a fourth, Alicia Ramos, a nursing student also from Wimauma.
"We challenged Tyrone to come up with a program for south Hillsborough County aimed at the migrant workers," foundation member Rosalie Hennessey said, "to see what he could do to help students from down there."
Keys credits his former coach and mentor at Callaway High School in Jackson, Miss., Odell Jenkins, with inspiring him to make it. He has maintained his friendship with Jenkins for more than 30 years.
"He told me what I could be," Keys said. "A lot of times people can see something in you that you don't see in yourself."
That, Keys said, is what he hopes to do with young people today - help them see the potential within and develop it.
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