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Date: 6/27/2022
HOLYOKE – The Care Center is a place where young mothers, mostly single moms gather to continue taking high school classes they set aside when their child was born. Some are just girls, others are young adults. But they’re all here to earn their high school equivalency degrees.
Each year the Center welcomes more than 100 women ages 16 to 24. They take classes and receive counseling. There’s even onsite daycare for their babies.
Getting their degrees is no easy task, with the center offering a robust and challenging curriculum. Some courses may be optional, but poetry is not. Throughout the year students focus on putting thoughts into verses that convey what is happening in their lives and world.
“We have found that poetry is a really powerful way to engage students who don’t think of themselves as writers or don’t necessarily like reading and writing,” said Anne Teschner, the Center’s executive director.
Each year an editorial board comprised of students and led by a member of the staff publishes student poetry in a book called “Nautilus II: The Special Anthology Edition.” The name hasn’t changed since the center began publishing the book 20 years ago, but the content varies dramatically.
“Each year the book has a different feel, depending on who’s here and what’s going on in the world. The poems reflect their reality,” said Teschner.
The book contains nearly 100 poems, each a reflection of the author’s experiences and emotions.
“The feeling this year is very strong. There’s some talk of the pandemic, some poems are about that experience but there’s a real sense of moving forward. They also write about what it was like earning their degrees in the middle of a pandemic,” said Teschner.
Teschner said the world doesn’t pay much attention to girls who drop out of school to raise babies, and society is riddled with stereotypes and opinions about what these girls must be like.
“There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about who young moms are and this book really changes things. It gives the public a sense of their humanity, their intellectual capacity and their youthful exuberance. Those are not words people typically use to describe teen parents,” said Teschner.
Poetry is a powerful way to express raw emotion and refined thoughts, she explained. It gives students a platform to tell the world what they’re thinking, introducing their lone voices to the greater public discourse about local and global events.
“We’re very committed to finding ways to have students be part of the broader dialogue about life in America. We do it for the students because it’s a powerful recognition of their capacity. We also do it because their experiences as young moms – mostly involved in the welfare system – are not voices we usually hear from. We’re interested in having the broader community hear what they have to say and what they’re experiencing,” said Teschner.
The soft cover book sells for $10 with all proceeds offsetting the cost of producing next year’s book. Nautilus II is available at The Care Center, 247 Cabot St. in Holyoke. The phone number is 532-2900.
The book is also available at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley.