Hernandez is a student in USF's Migrant Education Program. He said the program was his last opportunity to turn his life around. The Migrant Education Program recruits high-school dropouts and prepares them to take their GEDs and go out into the workforce. Cranston-Gingras said those challenges include changing schools on a frequent basis and feelings of isolation. Her last year of high school was the ninth grade, when she left because of her pregnancy and to help her family in the field.
Families survive as migrant workers, traveling the nation as the seasons of produce change.
Just as Ana doesn't want to live the hard life like her parents,' she doesn't want her unborn girl to face the same worries she encountered. And Ana is not alone. Many migrant mothers dream of their children working beyond the fields. Sometimes you have work, sometimes you don't. About a mile from the fields of Grimes Produce is Gary Wishnatzki's strawberry distribution center, Wishnatzki and Nathel.