Pemberton found other places and groups of people that contributed to his understanding of home and community as well. “You know they really taught me how to be a professional unknowingly.” “I just learned so much from them: the importance of doing the job well and with detail, being on time, and doing what you say you’re going to do,” Pemberton said. One of the places where he found a home was the housekeeping crew that he worked with during the summer after his freshman year. He said the education he received and the opportunities he took advantage of while at BC helped him find his way. Pemberton said he was ultimately able to find home in unlikely places. “I was still trying to find home in a way because I had been in the foster care system.” “I really struggled with fitting in,” he said. While fellow classmates were excited to be on their own and away from home, Pemberton struggled to relate to this newfound freedom, as he lacked a sense of home. When Pemberton first arrived at BC, it was a difficult transition, he said. Department of Education to help prepare high school students from low-income families for college. Upward Bound is a national program run by the U.S.
After a recommendation from a friend, Pemberton discovered the Upward Bound program, which he said greatly helped him in his journey to Chestnut Hill. Pemberton said his response was simply, “What’s college?”Īfter constantly adapting to different home environments, he had no idea what life could look like after high school. Pemberton, who grew up in New Bedford, Mass., discovered Boston College in the seventh grade when his guidance counselor handed him a brochure and suggested he look into it. Today, he is the chief human resources officer for the Dublin-based software company Workhuman, a bestselling author, sought-after speaker, youth advocate, husband, and the father of three.
“You never want to have your fate and/or your destiny resting in somebody else’s hands like that,” Pemberton, BC ’89, said.
Pemberton said he learned many lessons from his experience in the foster care system, which he describes in his novel A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, A Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home.
Instead, Pemberton went through many foster homes and eventually lived with a family who abused him mentally and physically for 13 years. At 3 years old, Steve Pemberton was taken from his alcoholic mother and placed into the foster care system.
0 kommentar(er)
