Autumn Nuñez ordered a suit for work last week. This is not news, in any traditional sense. It is, however, significant. It represents a moment of optimism and determination. Individual moments like this are many in a city and they pass unobserved in the hubbub. I can’t help but think this a shame as they might balance the grimmer accountings of the day.
Autumn is 33, a single mom, near finishing her associate’s degree. A few weeks ago, she started a paralegal internship at the private law practice of Loretta Collins, whom Autumn refers to unfailingly as Ms. Collins. The two women attend the same church.
I met Autumn last week at the Community College of Denver while researching its remedial education program. Tina Maestas, an educational case manager in the college’s First Generation Student Success program, recommended her. Autumn is a student ambassador and a mentor to other first-generation students.
“She’s a testament to challenges and struggles and staying afloat, and that speaks to other students,” Maestas said later.
I was looking for recent high school graduates and, in that regard, Autumn didn’t fit the bill. She graduated from West High in 1996. That she might need remedial education upon returning to college 10 years later isn’t surprising. Still, there was something about her. She beamed when she spoke of her education so far, when she talked about the example she was setting for her daughter.
“We’re both at the table doing homework and she’ll say, ‘Mom, can I use the computer?’ And I’ll say, ‘Not yet. Mama is looking up cases.’ “
Several years back, she had a tattoo inscribed beneath her left collar bone. It was covered up, save the curlicue of the last letter. “What’s it say?” I asked. “Ambition,” she said.
Autumn grew up on the west side. It’s enough to say she went through tough times. She dropped out of high school, returned a year later and graduated. The first time she enrolled at CCD, she blew off her classes and left after three semesters.
A few years pass and then she’s a mom, working back-to- back, low-paying retail jobs.
“When my daughter was 5, I’d be gone by 7 a.m. and I didn’t get back until 11 p.m. Her dad would take care of her in the evenings. But it was breaking my heart. She’d cry when I’d leave. I used to walk to work, and I’d just cry the whole way.
“One day, I was at work and one of my girlfriends came in. She attends Metro State. She could just see it in my face. She told me, ‘You should go back to college’ and when she said it, I just knew. It was like, a-a-a-ah, you know, angels.”
Autumn will graduate this summer. After that, “I’m going to (the University of Colorado at Denver) for my bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. I’m thinking about law. I’m thinking about becoming a homicide detective. But I know I’m not done yet. I’ve gained so much, I can’t stop now.”
A few weeks ago, she started her internship with Ms. Collins. “I look for people who appear to be hungry, and by that I mean really interested in advancing, in seeking improvement,” Ms. Collins told me. “Autumn is very smart. She’s just a sponge.”
The first week, Ms. Collins discussed professional attire, pantsuits, skirts, blazers. The next week, Autumn showed up in nice, black slacks. “Are these appropriate?” she asked. Ms. Collins, impressed, asked her where she got them. “The second-hand store,” Autumn said. “$4.99, Ms. Collins.”
Ms. Collins told Autumn she’d be taking her to court one day soon. Ms. Collins offered to help her choose a suit. But Autumn is on a path to which she sees no end and that suit, she tells me, symbolizes the life to which she aspires, for herself and for her daughter. She scoured the sales until she found what she was looking for.
Sometime soon, she will appear in court with Ms. Collins and on that day, Autumn Nuñez will wear a black two- button blazer, black slacks, black pumps with sensible heels and crisp, white, blouse.
Tina Griego writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-2699 or tgriego@denverpost.com.
