Joelene Joinvil left her Mayfield foster home before sunrise.

She rode a bus through the valley, arriving at the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton by 6:30 a.m. She waited in the lobby, half asleep and listening to rap and R&B.

Classes for high school students began at 8. Ida L. Castro, the programs leader, noticed Joelene that first Monday and wondered why the 15-year-old showed up so early.

That Friday, Castro asked. Joelenes answer sparked the dawn of a new life together.

Opening her home

As a high school sophomore, Joelene entered the foster care system in 2011.

Any thoughts about the future had been put on hold, she said.

That spring, Joelene learned about the medical colleges Regional Education Academy for Careers in Health - Higher Education Initiative, more commonly known as REACH-HEI. Castro spoke to Joelenes class at Scranton High School about opportunities in the medical field and how the new initiative would prepare students from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter and graduate from medical or other health profession schools.

Joelene saw the program as the opportunity she needed.

During the four-week summer program at the school, now named Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Joelene received SAT prep, learned about careers and how to apply for college. She left her foster home at 5 a.m. each day because another bus would have made her five minutes late. During those four weeks, she was never late or absent.

I was truly, truly impressed by that level of commitment and dedication, said Castro, the schools vice president for government and community relations and chief diversity officer. I admired that very much.

During the program, Joelene learned that because of her new foster care placement in Mayfield, she could not go back to Scranton High in the fall. Distraught, she told staff members, and Castro began searching for ways to help. She tried to find a foster home in Scranton, but no one could take Joelene. Without other options, Castro opened her own home.

The offer surprised Joelene, who thought Castro was nice, smelled good and was fashionable.

As Castro began the process of becoming a foster parent, the pair went to movies together and out to dinner.

Finally, Castro began a long conversation with Joelene.

I told her, if she came to my home, I didnt want her to come as a transient, said Castro, who has an adult daughter in New Jersey. If Id open my home, it was to make a family to make it a forever thing. I asked her to think about it. She thought about it and told me she wanted to be a family.

A cool mom

That October, three months after the program, Joelene moved into Castros home near Nay Aug Park in Scranton. Castro replaced the spare rooms futon with a bed and painted the walls blue.

Joelene finally could sleep soundly at night. She no longer had to stack books in front of her bedroom door out of fear someone would enter while she slept.

She started celebrating birthdays and holidays again. Castro threw her a sweet 16 party. For the first time in years, Joelene didnt have to bake her own birthday cake. She and Castro played the music video game Just Dance 4.

I had the ability to be a kid, Joelene said. I had been forced to grow up a long time ago.

Castro enrolled Joelene at Wyoming Seminary, and in February of her junior year there, Castro went from Joelenes foster parent to her legal guardian.

I dont remember life without her, Castro said.

She and Joelene cared for their three rescue dogs and took trips to Puerto Rico and Disney World. Joelene cried when she saw Cinderella Castle.

It was so great to do it with someone who loves you, Joelene said. I love Ida and she loves me.

After graduating from Wyoming Seminary in 2013, Joelene received a full scholarship to Susquehanna University in Selingsgrove. Now 21, Joelene will graduate in May with degrees in psychology and Spanish. Inspired by Castro, a lawyer President Bill Clinton appointed in 1998 as the first Latina Chairwoman/CEO of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Joelene wants to be a lawyer, too.

I always told people how cool my mom was, Joelene said. We have to fight for whats right. We have to protect people. We have to let people live to their fullest extent. Thats what she gave me. ... My life, everything goes back to her.

Castro wiped away tears.

For years, people would ask me why I moved to Scranton, she said. It was always to help build a medical school, but I stopped saying that. I really think I came to Scranton to meet Joelene.

Contact the writer:

shofius@timesshamrock.com

@hofiushallTT on Twitter

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At medical school, student finds her family - News - The Times-Tribune - Scranton Times-Tribune