Many immigrants feel shame and fear from their experiences.
I was given many opportunities that others were not.
Claudia Hernandez was born in Washington, D.C. in 1987. Her parents and grandparents left El Salvador to escape civil unrest. Her parents moved to Thurmont in 2003. She was seen as an outcast in school. She graduated from Thomas Johnson High School and had her son David a week later. With her mother’s help, she enrolled in Frederick Community College.
She graduated from the Universities at Shady Grove with a B.A. in Psychology in 2010 and later earned a master’s degree. Claudia married David’s father and had another son. They now live in Frederick, where she is the Coordinator of Family Engagement and Partnerships with Frederick County Public Schools and is a licensed therapist in a private practice.