GREENFIELD — Raising three kids as a single mother with no work and coming out of a bad relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Rose Lynch of Colrain was dying to go back to school. 

The question wasn’t whether she could, but how. 

This fall, Lynch took a leap of faith and enrolled in Greenfield Community College. 

At the school, the 32-year-old single mother headed to a second-floor corner office, where she joined many female students from all walks of life who meet up at the space.

While some may be carrying baby bottles in their backpacks alongside notebooks, others may be splitting their time between part-time jobs and the classroom. Some may be just out of high school; for others, it has been decades since they last saw the walls of an educational institution. 

While the women seem quite unalike, they have one thing that connects them — a drive to learn and earn their education. 

In that corner office, the GCC Women’s Resource Center offers women students a safe space to relax, converse with other students or find resources for whatever personal or family matters they may be dealing with while trying to attend school.

“This is the first time I’ve been ‘Rose Lynch.’ I was being strong for everyone else,” Lynch said. “But you can get to a better place here. 

“I felt validated when I first walked in,” Lynch added. “When I was 17, I graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon. I never said ‘I want to go to GCC and be on welfare.’ But when you’re faced with that reality, there’s a shame you feel. When you’re here, you can say ‘I need help, I’m struggling to stay in school or get groceries.’” 

The goal is to be supportive of female adult students coming to school for the first time or coming back, said Women’s Resource Center coordinator Rosemarie Freeland.

“Our goal is to assist students in being successful academically,” Freeland said. 

The resource center’s mission is to help women stay in school and get the support they need when so often they are raising children, working jobs and struggling to pay tuition. 

While it can be argued that other student groups should have their own center, the women’s resource center is particularly important because women are often balancing several commitments. 

“The biggest challenge for me to get my degree completed is not my ability as a student,” said Lynch. “It’s deciding I’m worth the time and money to go to school. If you hit a speed bump, whether it is kids or finances, often the first thought is to leave school. Now this is the first place to stop before you make that decision.”

“If there’s a group of other women experiencing a similar speed bump, there’s someone else you can relate to,” Lynch added. 

At the women’s resource center, students have access to a variety of aid, from academic advising to legal assistance.

Community Legal Aid offers legal services and advice for low-income individuals facing wrongful eviction, domestic violence, foreclosure or a loss of benefits. 

“We’ve been representing clients here at GCC and through the Women’s Resource Center,” said paralegal Wendy Kane. 

Often, students are mothers who may be receiving welfare assistance. If there’s a glitch in their benefits check, they could fall behind on their rent payments. Sometimes, women are dealing with domestic violence issues while trying to go to school and regulate their child support payments. 

Community Legal Aid assists students in navigating these often complicated legal issues. 

The Women’s Resource Center was originally formed in the 1980s when a women’s studies professor recognized the inequity that existed for women students and the lack of resources for those that were parents or survivors of domestic violence, Freeland said.

“The vision of the Women’s Resource Center was born to provide peer support and to provide that advocacy support,” Freeland said. 

“The fact that it’s on campus is huge. This place makes GCC a better community as a whole,” Lynch said. 

 

Read this story online at the Recorder.