'It's a big dream': Paterson mom balances life and class schedules with eye on Wall Street

PATERSON — Morenia Acosta had some doubts when, at the age of 21, she immigrated to Paterson from the Dominican Republic in 2016, leaving her parents and sisters behind.

Before moving, Acosta said, she a heart-to-heart talk with her father, who told her she could always return to her homeland if things didn’t work out. But he predicted that wouldn’t be necessary.

“He said, ‘I’m pretty sure you will love that country,’” she recalled. “The first day I came here, I loved this country.”

Not quite seven years later, Acosta is looking forward to graduating from William Paterson University’s Cotsakos College of Business this spring with a 3.95 grade-point average and two degrees — a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science — and she already has begun taking classes in an accelerated master’s program.

Acosta crams her classes and studies into a life schedule that includes caring for her two sons, one who recently turned 6 and another who will be 2 in May, and working part-time as a school bus driver, transporting Paterson students with special needs.

“Mami,do you have to go back to school tonight?" Acosta said her older son often asks her, "and if I say that, no, I don’t have to go back tonight, he’s so happy and excited, and he’ll clap his hands.

“The most difficult part of being a student is being a mom," she added. "I try to manage my time wisely. I do everything on a schedule; I sleep five or six hours a day.”

Acosta said she gets her inspiration from a Ronald Reagan quotation she saw on a wall while riding on Route 21 in Newark: “America is too great for small dreams.”

Acosta said she would like to become a bank manager, and maybe someday work on Wall Street.

“It’s a big dream,” she said.

Before she goes to sleep at night, Acosta prepares her sons' things for the next day. She picks their clothes, makes their lunches and packs her 6-year-old's backpack. When the boys are asleep, Acosta said, she studies, while waiting for her 34-year-old husband, Manuel Sena, who usually comes home from his job as a custodian at a school in Rutherford sometime around 11:30 p.m.

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Sena took a late shift so he could get the kids off to school in the morning while Acosta drives the school bus, she said. The two of them met through social media while she was still in the Dominican Republic and he was already in Paterson, Acosta said. It turned out that Sena came from the same small Dominican city where she lived: Villa Jaragua.

“He told me, ‘I want you to continue your studies here,’” Acosta said.

Acosta already had a degree in business administration from a college in her homeland, but said she had difficulties getting that credential validated in the United States. So, in 2017, she started taking classes at Passaic County Community College as an English as a second language student. She finished courses for her associate's degree in December 2020 and started at William Paterson in 2021.

Sometimes the language barrier got in the way, she said. Many times in her college classes, Acosta said, she believed she knew the right answer to an instructor’s question. But she wouldn’t raise her hand, unsure whether she had the right words to express herself.

Time and time again, someone else would give an answer with the same words she had in mind.

Acosta, who became a United States citizen in 2021, said a turning point came in fall 2022 when one of her professors, Jorge Arevalo, had all his students do oral presentations in front of the class. The first time she was assigned to get in front of the class, Acosta said she couldn’t do it. But the professor spoke to her afterward and gave her the courage to give it a try. Her presentation went well, and now she feels she has overcome that obstacle.

Acosta said she began driving a school bus part-time for a company called We Care in March 2019, the same year the couple bought a house on Ellison Street in Paterson.

“I wanted to work so I could help my husband pay the bills,” she said.

Acosta’s father had driven a school bus back in the Dominican Republic, while her mother worked as a bioanalyst, she said.

Officials at William Paterson said Acosta’s accomplishments make her the epitome of the university’s motto, “Will.Power.”

Acosta has taken several classes with Priya Nagaraj, a professor of economics and global business.

“What stood out for me about Morenia was her work ethic,” Nagaraj said. “It showed in the quality of her assignments, her regular attendance and her class participation.”

Nagaraj noted that Acosta often helped her classmates with class notes and in-class assignments.

“I am sure she will shine wherever she goes,” the professor said.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ mom with 3.95 GPA dreams of Wall Street