ALUMNI PROFILES
Helena (far right) with members of the Pritzker Fellowship.
Helena Girouard
Pritzker Children’s Initiative Fellow There has been a lot of pain in Helena Girouard’s life, more than anyone deserves, but listening to her speak, it’s impossible not to feel the hope she represents for so many. There’s a strength in her voice she may not even know is there. It has to be strong, because most of the people she speaks for don’t yet have a voice, and those who do, may not know what to say. Helena graduated from Daytona State College in 2017 with an Associate of Science in Human Services with a Specialization in Addiction, as well as an AA degree. She’ll graduate this December from Flagler College with her BS in Public Administration, but is already making an impact through her work as part of the Pritzker Children’s Initiative Fellowship. Among its objectives, the initiative seeks to expand high-quality early learning opportunities and the well-being of disadvantaged children. It’s the perfect fit for Helena, whose degrees highlight what she’s learned in the classroom, but whose life experience has taught her things that extend far beyond that. That gives her the ability to reach people that few others can.
Helena grew up in Ohio as a busy teenager, involved in just about everything her high school was doing. Whether it was clubs, student leadership positions or sports, she wanted to be in the middle of it all. She graduated eighth in her class, but when she went away to college, Helena went the opposite direction. From 2002-05, Helena bounced back and forth between Ohio University and what was then Daytona Beach Community College. She had spent summers in Ormond Beach when she was younger, and her father had moved there, so there was a natural connection to Florida. She attended DBCC during the 2003-04 school year, but her attendance was sporadic. “I’d enroll in classes, go for a couple of weeks, and then not show up, or show up and do none of the work,” said Helena. “I’m not really sure what I was thinking.” Her one year at Daytona State was followed by another year back at Ohio University before she moved to Florida permanently in 2005.
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By that time, her mother, younger sister and younger brother had migrated to Florida too, but that didn’t make things any easier for Helena. While living in Gainesville and working in the restaurant industry, she was introduced to the opioid scene, and lost everything she had in a downward spiral that resulted in multiple arrests, but even then, she hadn’t hit bottom. After returning home to Ormond Beach, Helena was exposed to worse, but after learning she was pregnant in 2013, she made a series of decisions that turned her life around as she began digging out of a deep hole. It started with a visit to the health department and Dr. Pam Carbiener. “She asked me about my background and saw how I had tried going to college. She said I had potential and I thought she was absolutely nuts, and I was just this junkie sitting in her office. Dr. Carbiener was one of the first people to say something like that to me in 10 years.”
Photos courtesy of Helena Girouard
