For Black History Month, we recognize Sheron Wilson, current president of the Sebring Child Development Center Parent Committee. Sheron wished to share her personal story as a thanks to the many RCMA staff, teachers, and volunteers who have helped her family find solid footing and set her children on a path to success.
More than a decade ago, Sheron Wilson was a young single parent trying to figure out how to raise her small children and make ends meet in Tampa, Fla. She was struggling to afford basic living expenses and decided to move back to her hometown in Highlands County hoping to find support and assistance in the community where she grew up. Sheron found the help she needed through the kind word of a friend who was already receiving RCMA support services. The friend recommended that Sheron contact RCMA.
“RCMA helped my family at the time when we really needed it,” Sheron said.
Before finding RCMA and its Child Development Centers, Sheron felt overwhelmed when it came to parenting and knowing what needed to be done to keep her children moving forward. RCMA provided her with the tools and resources she needed and offered guidance for enrolling her children in school.
“Black History Month is important to me because it paves the road for us to be able to do more in life. We are pushing forward to have more Black successful leaders. My family goes to events in the community and RCMA always has wonderful motivational Black speakers at parent meetings during the month of February.”
Sheron’s 13-year-old daughter Stefanie is now one of more than 40,000 RCMA alumni, and she’s becoming a standout success story. RCMA furnished the stepping stones for Stefanie to excel in math and reading, Sheron said.
Today, Stefanie is enrolled in the gifted program at her current school. She consistently makes the honor roll and serves as president of the National Honor Society chapter. Sheron said Stefanie’s success is a direct result of the quality education she received and the strong sense of responsibility she developed at RCMA schools.
Malia, Sheron’s 3-year-old daughter, is now enrolled in pre-schoool at Sebring CDC. “She loves it,” Sheron said. “She is so much more outgoing than before she started school. She talks to everyone she meets.”
Sheron thanks the caring CDC teachers and RCMA staff, especially Malia’s pre-school teacher, who also taught Stefanie many years ago. It is that consistency over time that helps parents develop a “bond with the teachers, because they don’t leave. They love what they do.”
