Estephania Delgado
Gives Back to OWCAP
Estephania Delgado serves as the Policy Council Chairperson for the Head Start Program and as a voting member on the Board of the Ogden-Weber Community Action Partnership. She is attending Weber State University to obtain a Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education. Estephania is married, works hard to gain an education, care for her two children, and to give back to the community. Estephania recounts her long and arduous road to success. She knows what it is like to struggle to accomplish her goals. She is where she is today because of help and encouragement from family and the organization she now serves.
“My mother always encouraged me to be the best that I can be, but one day it just didn't seem that way anymore. I dropped out my senior year of high school. My family moved back to California when I was three months pregnant and I moved in with my boyfriend who is now my husband.” said Estephania. “My life became nothing but struggles. Not just economical but emotional as well. It was hard to try to live as an adult at a young age. I gave up on everything and mostly on myself. I had never felt so hopeless and trapped. It seemed as though I was drowning in fear.”
After her daughter was born, she sat gazing into her baby’s eyes and remembered the words of her mother saying, "Be the best.” Estephania asked herself, “Is that what I'm doing?” She continued to say “I was thinking I wanted to succeed and get my High school diploma, but I was not really acting on it.”
Finally she set aside her doubts and fears and set a goal, “I will get my high school diploma!” She enrolled in Adult Education, but struggled. She was working, her daughter was sixteen months old, and she was pregnant with her second child. She was overwhelmed, she said, “There were times where I felt like giving up. I would hear, ‘You will never be anyone if you never finish anything.’ I had a goal and that goal would not let me quit.”
It was a difficult time for Estephania and her husband. They were unemployed and had no money. She discovered that OWCAP could help her pay for school and was directed to the Community Service Block Grant manager. Estephania said, “CSBG would help me, but only if I was willing to put in the work. I accepted the challenge.” She said, “When I graduated, I was overjoyed, I felt empowered and as though I was walking on air, ready to take on the world.”
“As my mother taught me, ‘With WILL, anything is possible! All you have to do is believe in yourself.’ I believe in myself and the ability to do my best." She is actively participating in the Head Start program at OWCAP. She continues on the path, in pursuit of her dream of becoming a teacher.
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