Antoinette Gomez: Maximizing Opportunities

Name: Antoinette Gomez

Hometown/Current Town: Oxford, Pa./Commerce City, Co.

Graduate Year/Major: 1994/BS Ag Science

Why did you pick Penn State for your education?

I wasn't sure I wanted to go to a big school honestly. I had come to campus for the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Agricultural Sciences (now known as the Pennsylvania School for Excellence in the Agricultural Sciences). I had also come up for FFA week every year, so I already knew the campus. There was a level of comfort coming here. At the time I thought I'd be a veterinarian and maybe go to the University of Pennsylvania for vet school. I also ran track and was on the track team for the first two years. It was a good place for academics, but also athletics and the social aspect. I knew other students here too.

How was the Governor’s School, now known as the Pennsylvania School for Excellence in the Agricultural Sciences?

Someone representing PSEAS came to my high school to talk about it. I went to my guidance counselor and said I wanted to do it. She said they hadn't had anyone from the school apply before. She didn't want me to get too excited about it or get my hopes up. I decided I wanted to be the first one from my school and I was.

It was a great opportunity. It was six weeks, and I met a lot of people, including a professor whose lab I worked in as a student. The school gave you an idea of the breadth and depth of the classes offered by the College of Agricultural Sciences and the careers you could pursue.

What clubs and organizations were you involved in as a student?

I was in Zeta Phi Beta sorority, MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences), the Caribbean Student Association, and Alpha Phi Omega, which was an honor society. I was also an Ag Advocate and was on the Homecoming Court my senior year in 1994.

I was a Ronald McNair Scholar and in the Schreyer Honors College. My thesis for Schreyer's was on an Extension project looking at families from Puerto Rico in the Allentown area and what the area offered in resources.

What did you want to be after graduating?

I originally wanted to be a veterinarian but changed directions while an undergrad. I studied abroad at Penn State three times. I went to Costa Rica, Mexico, and then spent a semester in Puerto Rico. It was such an incredible experience. I took advantage of so many opportunities here. I was very busy.

After college, I ended up doing international work with women through the Carter Center looking at five different African nations. Because I had an interest in agriculture, I also had an opportunity to do a fellowship with Conservation International and I worked in Mexico.

I continued to do some work overseas but then decided I wanted to work domestically so I moved home to Chester County. I worked with Family Services of Chester County. They had an HIV/AIDs program and needed someone to work with migrant agricultural workers who were Spanish speaking. It got to the point where people were comfortable with me and it started to turn into counseling, but I wasn't trained in that, so I knew I'd need to go back to school. I then moved out to Denver, and I checked out the University of Denver's social work program.

I got into that program and focused on clinical work because that's what I needed a license for and got my LSCW as well as my LMFT.

What is your current career?

For the last five years I've been working with the homeless. I was back home in Chester County and there was an organization called Family Promise that houses families in churches. I thought it was a good opportunity. It was close to home and down the street from the daycare my daughter was attending. While I was doing that work, a recruiter called me and asked if I'd consider moving back to Denver for a position where I’d continue working with the unhoused. It was during the pandemic, so I moved back to Denver, bought a house, and the rest is history.

How did Penn State help you prepare for your career?

The experience at Penn State helped prepare me for graduate school. I had already taken graduate-level courses at Penn State. It just really gave me the best preparation.

For internships, I worked for the park service and the forest service. I did two summers with the Environmental Education Program at the Northeast Experiment Station near Radnor, Pa. I got a couple of my friends to do internships there too. I also did an internship in Atlanta, Ga. That was great because then I earned a master's degree at Clark Atlanta University. They had a women's studies program and an international school there, which was great prep for the overseas work I did. Then I worked for 10 years before doing another master's degree in social work, which was ultimately what I really wanted to do. I had taken the Rural Sociology classes when I was at Penn State, I had the experience in international work, and I had the Spanish language background. It just seemed that's where I was needed. My job also provides me a lot of flexibility to be there for my daughter for all her activities and school events.

Another thing that I learned here that helped me was about program development. When I was working in Kennett Square, Pa., where I lived before moving to Colorado, a group of high school girls who were the daughters of migrant workers came along. There were youth centers being built in old, renovated garages. These girls came and said there was no place private for girls to just talk about girl stuff. That became the program "Girl Talk." One of those original girls has since become a coordinator of that program. For me, I started these programs and while I didn't stay in the area, seeing these programs continue is great. I like finding these ideas, networking, connecting people, collaborating. That's the social worker in me. I just want to make things happen.

What is some of the best advice you"ve been given?

I think there are always going to be hurdles and adversities we all experience. Elmore Hunter, who was my mentor, always asked questions like, "What are you going to do? What's the next move? What's the next best decision? Where do we go from here?"

That's the best advice I've been given because we don't stay right where we are. We have adversities or hurdles to jump.

Just like hurdling in track, you jump over it, and then there's another hurdle. You have steps in between. There are times we fly over hurdles in life, but there are also times you hit a hurdle and you fall to the ground, and you have to get back up. I think a lot of it is how can you be resilient? What are you going to do for yourself or for others? How do you learn from this experience? How are you going to be resilient and bounce back? How can you take that experience and view it not as a problem, but an opportunity?

Drs. William Henson, Connie Baggett, Blannie Bowen, Cathy Lyons, James Locker, and Jim Diamond were my mentors and support team. Students need to find their own team to stay focused, connected and motivated. It's a big university, but the college is smaller, and you will not be a number in it. Get to know your teachers. Go to office hours. Get involved in activities and stretch yourself. Surround yourself with different people and be open to learning from those around you.

What makes you proud to be an Penn State Ag Sciences alumna?

I’m proud of Penn State Ag because I think the college has evolved and grown since I've been there. I think the college has always been a staple in research, but it has also been flexible with adding more and different majors that other places might not have. I think as the college has evolved; it's been able to be responsive to the career opportunities that are out there for students. There's been so much growth and the college has grown too.

I've also seen the college place a big focus on diversity. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is important and without those you don't have retention. It's important for recruiting staff and students. Being responsive in this way, being in certain communities, talking about careers prospective students might not know about, is all important.