Women of My Future

Gloria Rivera grew up in New York City in the Lower East Side, but finds it important to include that she also frequented Brooklyn. She spent grades K-9 in public school and then from 10-12 grade she went to a Catholic school for low-income students which focused heavily on the importance of and access to work-study and college prep. These experiences influenced her studies in college, which she had entered through The New School’s Higher Education Opportunity Program, as she focused on learning more about the education system through her time as a Theater Major. One of her main goals for this project was to center some of the voices of the people who impacted her life throughout her college career. She wanted to take the chance to discuss with them their education experience. This play works in partnership with research she has done on the importance of amplifying and encouraging the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of young Black and Brown girls in early education. These encouragements should work in partnership with the dismantling of systemic oppression and racism within the education system in order to allow education to truly be a form of liberation and motivation and not a place students need to go through “just because”.