Anne Teschner M’06

DEGREES: B.A., public administration (University of Massachusetts); M.A. in American studies (Trinity College)

JOB TITLE: Executive director of The Care Center in Holyoke, Massachusetts

FAVORITE TRINITY MEMORY: My first semester in the master’s program I took the required intro to American studies class, and one of our first assignments was to read The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I approached the essay with a somewhat dismissive attitude, thinking it would just be some dusty material from another era, but I remember so clearly reading it and being completely electrified by it. I ended up focusing on Emerson extensively throughout my degree program.

REPORTER: What is The Care Center? Who does it serve?
TESCHNER: The Care Center is an alternative education program in Holyoke, Massachusetts, for pregnant and parenting teen moms. Almost everyone in the program is a welfare recipient, and all have dropped out of school and their goal is to pass the GED exam and focus on going to college. We have high expectations of our students, and with those high expectations is a high level of support. We offer on-site day care, a nurse practitioner, transportation, food, and help with case management, so that these mothers have the support to become great and inspired learners again.

REPORTER: Can you describe The Care Center’s curriculum?
TESCHNER: Students are preparing for the GED exam and focus on that for sure. But in addition to that work, we encourage our students to study art and humanities, which comes as a surprise to some. People often assume that those in poverty don’t have the luxury or inclination to study things like art history or moral philosophy, and that instead they should focus on finding a job. This stance completely ignores the reality that people in poverty are fully rounded human beings. Add to that, people can often feel incredibly isolated when living in poverty, but the simple act of reading a Pablo Neruda poem about love or The Diary of Anne Frank can lead them to realize that they are not alone in their struggles. Others have come before who have grappled with many of the same problems that our students are facing and have captured those experiences in literature, art, and music. Studying the humanities also helps students develop practical skills–how to read, write, and speak well. These skills are critically important for all young people, but for our students the stakes are even higher as they are now responsible for another human being.

REPORTER: How is The Care Center structured, and what are some general outcomes?
TESCHNER: Because we work with people on welfare, we have had to deal with the changes that welfare reform has brought. Those changes often include a “hurry up and get off welfare” attitude. The problem is that, if someone is reading at a 5th or 6th grade level, it is not readily apparent how to get them quickly through a high school education track. When thinking about that at The Care Center, we looked to prep schools. Prep schools are a place where students succeed. We asked ourselves, “What does the best education money can buy look like, and how can we replicate that?” We analyzed the systems that were in place at preparatory schools that help ensure student success. We quickly saw that it was combination of factors, including a high level of support offered to students, an authentic level of partnership between students and staff, and a rich educational curriculum with a focus that includes the arts, humanities, and athletics. We also set into place the expectation that the teen mothers who come here will go on to college, even though most are the fi rst in their family to get a GED. By putting all of those pieces in place at The Care Center—and the expectation that students will succeed—we saw really quickly that we had cracked the code. People who had been written off as students were now successful and going on to college at a rate that rivals those at elite private schools.

REPORTER: How did you become involved in The Care Center?
TESCHNER: I have been involved for the past 15 years. I had worked for the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Massachusetts Humanities Foundation, so I had developed an overview of what people were doing around the state, region, and country with regard to teaching art and humanities, particularly with youth at risk. When the opportunities at The Care Center appeared, I thought it would be interesting to work at the community level. Holyoke has the highest teen birth rate in Massachusetts—five times greater than the rest of the state—and the high school dropout rate hovers around 50 percent. The city deals with numerous cultural and educational struggles that get in the way of creating a healthy environment in which young people can succeed.

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