BACK TO SCHOOL

Enovate recently welcomed Susana Rodrigues to our team. Susana is a Certified AutoCAD professional with 15-years of experience in surface modeling, data preparation for machine control, survey layout, site volume calculations, topographic surveys, road design templates and profiles. In addition to this, Susana is also the mother of two school age children – Daniel (8) and Cristina (5). We asked her how she has been handling ‘Back to School’ time while working full-time.

So, Susana, how is it going?

‍I’m great! So happy to be joining Enovate! I feel very welcome and get to work with amazing professionals.‍

Are your children attending school in-person/virtually or a combination and how are you dealing with scheduling?

I have a Kindergartener and a 3rd grader. They are doing hybrid school (2-days in school, 3-days online learning). We have a wonderful daycare that is now assisting school age children with their schoolwork for 2 of the 3 days they have online learning. It’s a small group and it’s perfect for them to socialize a little bit. My oldest is a social butterfly and missed school and his friends terribly during the summer, so being able to have that routine in a small group environment is great.

What challenges are you facing?

Wine after work? Just kidding, I don’t drink. I thought Kindergarten and 3rd grade was no big deal. After all, they were both so excited to start this school year, and they still are! But I didn’t know that I would come home to homework – for ME! Making sure they finished all their work on Google Classrooms is a struggle. There’s always something that they missed and that we need to work together. With physical books and work pages, I can tell my Kindergartner to work on them and she’ll do it proudly. Having her do a task on Google Classrooms on her own is very time consuming as she is still learning how to use a computer.‍

How does this year differ from last year?

Wow! We do take certain things for granted. Last Thanksgiving break, I did something very special with my oldest son, Daniel. We took a trip around Europe – just me and him! We held hands through the streets of Rome, Paris and London! We connected in a very special way and got to do many things we both love, worry-free. I wanted to do the same with my daughter, when she gets a little older, to a place we both love. I don’t know exactly when that’s going to happen, when we will be able to travel with the same worry-free way that I did last November. However, the pandemic also brought us closer as a family. As we all stayed home from March till June, we all planted something in our vegetable garden, we carefully planned our meals at home, and we made projects together. It felt good to hear, ‘Mommy, I love being home with you and daddy!’

What supports have helped you through this time?

My parents! Having my parents close by to help with the kids is a blessing. I don’t know what I would do without my mom!

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