Sonia Mendez ’19, ’20
So, I got fired from Burger King, but that’s what propelled me to move forward.
My adviser, Jossie Valentin, asked me, “What do you want to do?” I said, “Well, I want to be a lawyer.” And she was like, “Okay, we’re gonna put you in liberal arts.”
My very first class was “Orange is the New Black: The Real Story” with professors Lisa Mahon (English) and Melissa Weise (sociology). That was a Learning Community class about the book and Netflix series that included a service-learning project with the women from the prison writing group Voices from Inside.
At first, I didn’t tell anyone in the class that I had been involved with Voices from Inside myself when I was in jail. I just kept quiet and observed. I saw how enthusiastic Lisa was about the women’s writing and the book and the way she positively spoke about people who have been incarcerated and how great their poetry was. Then she brought in one of the Voices from Inside chapbooks, and I was in it.
I joined Voices from Inside because there wasn’t much else to do in the women’s jail, at least at that time. In the beginning, I didn’t take it seriously. I was actually already making a small living writing love letters for the other girls. That was my business, inside, to buy myself soup or soap or whatever from the commissary, but that was the extent of my writing. I didn’t consider my writing poetic or anything like that. But then I started taking it seriously.
After four years, I got out. I went to the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department to get services and help with re-entry, and I noticed that Voices from Inside was also there, except they called it Voices from Inside Out. We did performances at colleges and other places. The director said my stuff was good. I was like, OK, I’m a writer. I’m a poet. It’s been about 13 years.
At HCC, I tried to focus on writing good papers. Lisa seemed to like them, and so I just started trying harder and harder, reading the dictionary, Eminem, whatever. I took classes that I thought would help me, like public speaking. I was here a little longer because I took a couple of semesters off. When you’re trying to rebuild your life, there’s other things that you have to deal with outside of school that can take your focus away.
I graduated in 2019 with my associate degree in liberal arts, and then I got a certificate in human services in 2020. I need just a few more credits to get my bachelor’s degree in social work from Westfield State.
I was working a little bit as a recovery coach for the Holyoke Police Department in conjunction with Behavioral Health Network. I just started a small contract as a lived experience expert with the Disability Policy Consortium out of Boston. We help people with disabilities identify their needs and access services and see if we can make policy changes. I have tons of experience in that area, dealing with access to services and individualized education plans. I think those services are important because that’s what has helped me thrive.
So I’m doing social work right now, but I’m not really into therapy. I want to do social work at a macro level, like policy. I want to be a lawyer, in the courtroom, or at the Statehouse, making changes. Congress. I had a dream that I was going to be in the Supreme Court. Advocacy. That’s what I want to do.’
Sonia Mendez’s story and poetry are featured in the documentary “Finding the Words: The Story of Voices from Inside.” She last visited HCC in April 2023 for a Voices from Inside performance in the Leslie Phillips Theater. She lives in Williamsburg.
My HCC Story narratives are adapted from interviews with HCC alumni conducted by Connection editor Chris Yurko.
