Interview with Lucy Baker, Peer Support Associate with SBCSS

This months focus will be an interview with Lucy Baker, Peer Support Associate with San Bernardino County  Superintendent of Schools.

Impact Truth
http://www.impacttruth.com/

Transcript

Don  00:04

Hello, my name is Don English director of Students Deserve Success and executive director of the San Bernardino County Wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force. And I want to welcome you to our children deserve success podcast. Once a month, we will be sending out these recordings regarding all things related to child welfare and attendance. school attendance Review Board, foster youth services, McKinney Vento homeless programs in our county, and the San Bernardino County Wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force. This months focus will be an interview with Lucy Baker, Peer Associate with San Bernardino County, Superintendent of Schools and I want to say Peer Support Associate with San Bernardino County Superintendent Schools. Lucy Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. And thank you so much for being here.

Lucy  00:51

Thank you. It's such a blessing and a joy and an honor to be here. So I'm excited to dive in and answer any questions you might have.

Don  01:00

Thank you so much. You know, I've had the pleasure of seeing you speak before, to a roomful of people. And so I think you understand the dialogue piece of this and what we're going to do as it relates to the information that you will be addressing with our listeners. So Lucy, if you could please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about how you came to San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.

01:24

Okay, so my name is Lucy Baker and I am a Peer Support Associate at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, I was brought to this position by an amazing amazing woman and her team. Through Children Deserve S uccess. Miss Brenda Dowdy unfortunately, she's retired. But she truly helped pave a pathway to amplify the voices of youth who may have felt as if their voices didn't matter. And she really emphasized the importance of what these youth are experiencing and how we can reach them. And in this position, I am able to advocate, I'm blessed with the honor to advocate for the youth who may feel they don't have a voice because I was once that student. And I experienced the foster care system and homelessness for such a long amount of time that it almost made me feel invisible. And for this team to create a position like this. It's phenomenal. Something that I couldn't even dream of myself. But I know that my purpose for this position and being here is for things much greater than myself.

Don  02:57

Wow, phenomenal. You know, our superintendent Ted Alejandra and assistant superintendent, Dr. Stephanie Houston, are very supportive of this position. We know the importance of this position, and we feel we have the right people in these positions. Tell me a little about about your pathway in education. You know, you can go back and tell me how you matriculated from high school to college, etc. What may have been some of the barriers.

03:24

Okay, so I did not know how to navigate education whatsoever. My experience with homelessness and the foster care system led me to reflect by the time I had got to my high school graduation, on the number of homes I'd been to and the number of schools I'd been to, and it was 30. 30 Different times I moved from places of laying my head on the floor at night at a park bench or sleeping in a car to living in a homeless shelter next to strangers that I didn't know. And just questioning so much questioning about why things were happening and why things had to be this way. And I knew that what I'd seen was my family going into these patterns of addiction and patterns of falling into incarceration. In fact, I was actually born in prison. So I didn't know what education looked like beyond Middle School. I didn't know what education looked like beyond high school, my sisters, my other family members, they dropped out before even achieving that. So in the midst of that and seeing what went wrong, I knew I didn't want to take part in that. So what I did was, regardless of the amount of times I moved from home to home and school, to school to school, I started with fresh days, they thank God for that. But I made it a priority to keep my head in the books and always try to learn in the best way possible and just keep up to speed on where everyone else was that in the education system, I kind of mastered the camouflage effect. And it was such a secret that I experienced all these things that I almost became this sort of chameleon and feared people finding out that I was experiencing these things, because I thought it was it was shameful. So navigating the education system was extremely difficult. But because I saw what went wrong, I was able to pave a pathway for myself, and decide, okay, that's not what went right. But I know that maybe there's something greater if I take a different route. And I ended up graduating high school. And that's huge, because looking at the statistics, you know, foster and homeless youth, there's maybe 55% of us who make it to graduation. And of that 55%, 3% graduate college, and the statistics are always changing. But I was blessed with the opportunity to attend college and graduate with my bachelor's and I received a full ride scholarship from give something back our community partners, and that's just the power of when our communities come together and serve our youth. 

Don  07:00

Wow, I tell you, you are adding to that positive data piece in terms of the amount of people who graduate when you first enter college, Lucy, that was the first time that you experienced permanent housing. Is that correct? Yeah. What was that like? And what advice would you give you entering college in navigating that.

Lucy  07:24

So for the first time in my life, it was almost liberating, but also overwhelming, in the same sense. I had never come to a point of being able to expect that I'd have more than two meals a day, I had never come to a point that I'd expect that the same place I laid my head, the night before, would be the same place the following day. And when I finally achieved that, it was almost like, I was in shock. And I froze, and I kind of went ghost on all the people who were trying to support me. I didn't know how to navigate my emotions. And it felt like there were so many different broken pieces everywhere that I felt like, time was almost frozen, but I was taking it day by day. And to be in that space where I knew, regardless of how I'd react emotionally, that there were people who were willing to extend support to me in any way that I needed it and also to pivot and adjust so that I can achieve success. And, you know, they would do all that they can to, to work with me, even if I resisted and navigating all of that led me to actually change my major like, three times. And, you know, each time I changed my major, they went along with it. They were like, Okay, what's your reasoning for this? And they really wanted to know the root of things. And that's what that's what really, really helped me was knowing that people were not just invested in my success, but my holistic well being

Don  09:20

Wow. Lucy, you attended a higher socio economic high school and had a very high GPA while in high school. And what advice would you give educators, you talked about being very good at camouflaging? Because the appearance says she's doing well she's coming to school, she's got great grades, straight A's, etc. But what advice would you give educators in terms of really understanding the whole child and what you experienced? 

09:49

Yeah, so I had a 4.1 GPA by the time I'd been in my senior year and there was one teacher who actually took the time I'm gonna get me get to know me on a deeper level. She, she noticed my outfits. And I don't think she noticed that I'd rotate the same three outfits every week, every day. But that's what was happening. She'd always just compliment me. And she showed up in ways much deeper than just being an educator who assigns work and wants me to get things done. She showed up beyond just educationally she showed up experientially, experientially, because I believe education and knowledge is not just from learning, but it's also through experience. And this particular educator, she took the time to question why I was eating lunch in the bathrooms and question if I had anyone who supported me at home question if I had plans for college, and what that looked like, and in the midst of that I finally gained her trust, and she gained mine. And we opened up to each other about some pretty deep things, probably me some more than she but she, she took action when she heard that I was living in houses that were being raided on a regular basis by police officers. And I shared with her at one point that I had been held at gunpoint, because there was a gentleman who the police were looking for, and I was in the home at that time, and it was terrifying, you know, as a 16 year old girl, but I needed someone to open up to and she saved that space for me. So my advice to educators would be to just continue showing up with a compassionate heart and continue to save space for our youth in ways that are much deeper than just education. Because the emotional self is also a part of the whole self. So that's my advice.

Don  12:17

So Lucy how are you doing now have you learned how to manage your mental health and your home dynamic.

Lucy  12:23

So I am a person of faith, I have faith that every single thing I've experienced is going to be used for a greater purpose. And I'm seeing that in my position here at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, as a peer support associate, you know, I see that the deepest parts of the pain I've experienced are being used for greater good and to show these youth that they don't have to be stuck in generational cycles of poverty and abuse and neglect and addiction and just falling into this state of isolation. Because mental health really is something that I struggled with for such a long time. But now that I have that core value of faith, I'm able to set my belief systems about what I'd expect from experiences what I'd expect from relationships, and I can build that foundation, based off of hope, hope that things could be greater than what I see, or what I've experienced in the past.

Don  13:38

Evidence of things I'm seeing right? Is there anything that you want to advocate for in our county, and even statewide that you feel that youth may be lacking? Who are in a similar situation to what you experienced?

Lucy  13:57

Absolutely, I'm a huge advocate for mental health awareness. I believe that our psychology is something that is a part of ourselves and the ways that we see the world the ways that we'd expect others to treat us and being aware of our mental health and the state that our mental health is in is, is one way to begin to take action. And in experiencing this hardship through mental health, you know, I struggled with suicidal ideation and self harm and even falling into patterns of addiction at one point. But in the midst of it all. I finally discovered that my mental health didn't have to be something that withheld me from my purpose or suffocate me from even being able to speak. Speak up about these things. that I was going through. So that's one thing. But another is, I truly, truly just want to be that voice to amplify those who may feel they're voiceless. And that could be people who've experienced domestic violence, people who've experienced sexual abuse, people who have experienced homelessness, foster care, all of that. I just want people to know that they're not alone. And also to be able to support them in a way that may show them there's a way to receive love. And there's also a way to give love and how we can better operate in that space of love loving others well.

Don  15:45

All right. What are your hopes and dreams on a personal level, for your future?

15:53

On a personal level, my hopes and dreams are to allow the things that I've experienced to take me as far as east is from the West, wherever I'm lead, that's where I'll be, I truly, truly enjoy so many different things, I enjoy writing, I enjoy speaking, I enjoy fitness, I enjoy art, I enjoy music, and wherever all of those things take me, I'm willing to go with it and serve our people and meet them where they're at. Because that's my purpose for being here is to serve others and to love them well and to offer a means of support to them. I truly feel that I've been gifted with a servant heart, and many others are too it's just a matter of being able to discover what hope actually is.

Don  16:47

I knew when I said on a personal level, you're going to talk about helping others that's who you are. And that's the nature of the talent that you've been given. Do you have any big news to share?

16:57

Absolutely. I actually just recently came out with a children's book. It's called Lucy's Teddy Bear. And it's a little bit about a journey that I've experienced, but more personalized to people who've experienced adversity in itself. And the teddy bear is something that gives color to life, and comfort and hope. So you can order that online at Impact Truth, or you can contact myself or someone through this website, and we can get you connected and we can get that book out.

Don  17:36

I love it. You know you are absolutely a fantastic ambassador for the San Bernardino County Superintendent and a fantastic representation of the department that I get to lead. And so pleased to have you here. So thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate it. 

17:58

Thank you. I'm so humbled and so grateful and honored to be here. Thank you.

Don  18:04

Thank you for listening. We hope you find this information valuable. If you have any topics or questions that you would like addressed, please email them directly to cwa@sbcss.net. As always, we hope you stay well and continue to transform lives thru education.