Role model moms in the Valley

By AMANDA TONOLI

atonoli@vindy.com

Three local moms are setting examples for their young ones that the sky is the limit for them.

As the Rev. Billy Graham said: “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.”

For Mother’s Day 2017, here are their stories.

PEGGY GOCALA

Peggy Gocala of Canfield and her son Max attended school simultaneously, motivating each other to conquer their fears to accomplish their goals

It was spring 2012 when Peggy said she found inspiration to attend a weekend college program at Hiram University for her bachelor’s degree in health care administration.

She found inspiration to live out this dream when Max, now an undergraduate recruitment and outreach coordinator for George

Mason University School of Business, started his freshman year at Youngstown State University.

“It was just the right time,” she said.

It didn’t come easy, however.

“It was a big stress on my family, but they all really supported me through it to graduation,” Peggy said.

At the time her daughter Megan, now a YSU freshman, was a freshman at Canfield High School.

“I know how hard it was for her to work as a full-time parent and an office worker and also go to school, so, on the weekends when she was at school and it was just me, Max and Dad, I had to get over being mom-less,” Megan said.

And Peggy had to get over her fears.

“I was out of high school for 20 some years – graduating in 1982 – and I went back in as this older adult,” she said. “I actually found that it motivated the kids that were there to think, ‘If she can do it, so can I.’”

She also feared living out her college dream was taking away from her family.

“Sometimes it was challenging trying to do homework while also trying to be a good mom and full-time office worker,” she said.

But her family stepped up to the plate.

“They just supported me and cooked dinners and picked up extra chores to make it easier on me,” Peggy said.

Often Peggy said she, Megan and Max would have study groups, reading one another’s papers and offering suggestions to make them better.

“Truthfully, we still send our papers to Max to look over,” she laughed.

Megan said when her mom first told her and Max that she wanted to go back to school, finding support was easy.

“We both said – without hesitation – ‘Go for it!’” she said. Max said if he learned one thing in growing up in his family, it’s how to endure and overcome all obstacles.

“What we have, our closeness in our family, is something I wish all families had,” Megan said.

“We endured many things as a family, and we found the strength, compassion and love to get through each,” Max said. “Not many would have made it through as we did, but we came out stronger than ever, thanks to Mom.”

Peggy will complete her master’s degree in health and human services in fall 2018 at YSU.

And she dedicates her success to her family – her support system and inspiration to pursue her academic dream.

“It’s everything to me,” she said tearfully. “Family is just everything.”

ROCHELLE ROBINSON

From a General Educational Development diploma to a Ph.D., Rochelle Robinson of Youngstown, Youngstown City Schools assistant parent liaison, shows people everywhere that anything is possible with the right mindset – especially her grandson Joshua Atkins, 8.

Robinson said she never lets anything stop her from living out her dreams, and she wants to instill that in Joshua by doing so.

“Someday I want to grow up to get my Ph.D. just like my grandma,” he said.

Robinson recalled her journey to getting her doctoral degree was not an easy one, but one she would not be deprived of.

“I started in Detroit graduating with a GED with honors, but I didn’t go to graduation because I could see myself going farther than that,” she said.

Robinson said she had to get her GED because of family decisions that stopped her from completing high school.

Robinson completed her doctoral degree in management from Capella University in June 2015.

Robinson got custody of Joshua the following year.

“He was having some family problems and ended up staying with me, and now we have a good time,” she said, smiling at Joshua.

Joshua said he enjoys living with his grandmother and doesn’t miss any other kind of life.

The most important lesson she teaches him is how to succeed, he said.

“Life threw me so many twists and turns, and I just had to make a decision as to what I wanted to do with my life,” Robinson said. “This is it. And I want to show Joshua how to find his ‘it’ ... t o show persistence, determination and heart.”

DANIELLE ROLLISON

“In her head she has all these options available and she can do whatever she wants to do. If I limit myself she’s also going to think she has limits,” said Danielle Rollison, 25, of Austintown, about her 1-year-old daughter Kairi.

Rollison juggles full-time school at Kent State University, parenting and work as an advanced patient care technician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Horizon’s emergency department and as a nursing assistant at ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

On her busiest day she leaves her house at 7 a.m. and returns about 11 p.m. between day care, school and then work.

“Between work and school or day care and home I talk to [Kairi] and play with her as much as I can,” Rollison said. “She’s my best friend and we are inseparable when time permits. ... It’s a challenge when there’s not enough time to study as much as I’d like to and not enough time to spend with Kairi as much as I’d like to.”

But all of it has an end goal – completion.

“Three-hundred sixty some days away,” Rollison laughed. That’s how many days until Rollison completes her associate degree in nursing. She will continue to pursue her bachelor’s degree in nursing and eventually finish with graduate school as a nurse-midwife, doctor of nursing practice.

“I just can’t wait to get to a point to where [Kairi] can say, ‘Oh my mom’s accomplished and has her doctorate.’ I want her to have someone to look up to and follow in my footsteps – to do anything.”