Single mom Carmen Hernandez had to wait in long lines at the De Anza media lab before a grant program helped her get a computer of her own.

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Grants help single mom achieve college dreams
STUDENTS GET COMPUTERS WITH MONEY FROM FUND AT DE ANZA

as a kid, Carmen Hernandez planned out her future. It involved going to college, and buying a house. It didn't involve being a single mom with three kids before graduation.

``I'm still going to do it all,'' says Carmen, 28, who is on track to graduate from De Anza College in Cupertino in the spring and plans to study computer graphics at San Jose State University in the fall. ``It'll just be a little later than I planned.''

When she was 15, Carmen got pregnant and dropped out of high school. Now, she finds herself in the same situation her mother was in, raising three kids alone. Only she's doing it differently. Carmen's mother always went to work and always put food on the table for her kids, but she also had a drug problem and spent time in jail. In 1993, when Carmen was 18, her mother was murdered shortly before Christmas.

``They found her body by the railroad tracks,'' Carmen says. ``They never found who did it.''

As a child, Carmen bounced from group homes to foster homes. Sometimes she lived on the streets, staying with friends. It was a crazy childhood, she says -- an experience she's determined that her kids -- ages 11, 10 and 5 -- are not going to go through. She wants to be a role model for them.

A year ago, Carmen applied for a grant to get a computer. It's made a huge difference helping her achieve her goals. She now carries a ``B'' average.

``I used to wait in line forever at the media lab,'' Carmen says. ``Now sometimes while my kids are doing their homework, I can do mine.''

For three years, Wish Book readers have been nourishing the fund that provides grants to buy computers, printers and software for single-parent students like Carmen. Each gift of $50 (17A) will help make sure there is enough money to continue the program.