Denise Carey
Children at the Sunshine League Children’s Home brought home much better grades at Easter than they did at Christmas. Executive Director Denise Carey started at the League in December and is proud that she’s seen a turn around in grades so soon. She attributes the success to a Study Buddies programme she strengthened.
At 4.45 each weekday the residents have supervised study. After seeing their report cards at the Christmas term she said she decided to focus on improving their academics. She beefed up a Study Buddies programme already in place. In the programme people in the community commit to spending two evenings a week with a single student to coach them through their work. Ms Carey added volunteers so that each student had two Study Buddies. This meant each child had one-on-one coaching at least four evenings a week. The added attention has brought positive results and Ms Carey beams when she says that grades have greatly improved.
A long-time civil servant in Probation Services, Ms Carey’s educational background seems honed to her current position.
She attended Northeastern University in Boston, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. “It was a five year co-op programme which allowed me to return to Bermuda with two years work experience,” she said.
She started in the Department of Child and Family Services, moved to Residential Treatment Services and in 1997 to Probation Services (now Court Services) as a Probations Officer.
“While working full time at Court Services, I attended night school for two years at Webster University in Bermuda to earn my Masters Degree in Human Resource Management,” she said.
On completion of that degree she became a Senior Probation Officer. She held that position until moving to the Sunshine League last December.
“I must admit, I was really scared to leave the security of working with Government,” she said “but when I got started I knew immediately I had made the right decision.”
