Name: Dulce Torres

Hometown: Milwaukee

Course of Study: Psychology/Religious Studies

Why did you choose Alverno?
My older sister graduated from Alverno in 2010. She always talked about how much she loved the class sizes and how great the faculty was. She was right.

How has financial aid impacted your college experience?
I would not be pursuing a career in psychology if it wasn’t for financial aid. I became a mother at 15 years old, and while I had the moral and financial support of my family to help me finish high school without transferring to an alternative school, my long-term goal of a career in criminal and forensic psychology would not be materialized.

What will a college degree mean to you?
A college degree means an education. I have received a lot of negative feedback from others who believe college is a waste of time because “I won’t find a job anyway,” but it is much more than that for me. At Alverno, I have gained skills in communication, social interaction, analysis, problem solving, and many other areas that will help me get ahead in any job I choose.

A college degree means I am not just a teen pregnancy statistic. I will prove to those who wrote my life off as “ruined” that I was able to push myself against the odds and establish myself in a professional career.

Most importantly, a college degree will instill the value of an education in my young daughter and inspire her to achieve the same.

Have you learned something during college you didn’t expect?
How much I love learning.

There is so much. I have learned to be a better writer. I have learned to read and analyze scholarly articles and studies. I have learned to work efficiently and better in groups. I have learned the history of women’s rights, the history of the civil rights movement, the history of Native Americans. I have learned about numerous religions, their values, and about interfaith literacy. I have learned how to conduct an experiment and how to work with data analyzing programs. I have learned about the social class system and the sociology of families. The list is almost endless.

What are your plans after graduation?
I plan to pursue master and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology. I want to work with incarcerated individuals as a therapist. I also want to conduct more research on mass incarceration.