By Isabella Torres ‘24
Ms. Carla DiClemente sways into her office in the English hallway, pulling her dark hair up into a bun and turning on her electric teapot and mini water feature. It is an early Monday morning, but she is ready to take on the busy day.
Ms. DiClemente has been working at Conestoga Valley for five years as a School Social Worker and Homeless Liaison. Her journey to where she is now is what makes her so great at her job.
“When I came to the United States, I was seven,” DiClemente explained. “We didn’t plan to stay here, it was supposed to be a vacation.” That vacation eventually turned into her family permanently relocating to the US.
Her grandmother was living in America at the time working as a Spanish Interpreter for the Children’s Hospital that was previously located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. DiClemente was inspired by the work her grandmother did.
“My grandma… is someone that’s always been important to me,” Ms. DiClemente said. “I didn’t know what social work was at that time, but I just knew that was pretty awesome what she was doing.”
DiClemente knew from an early age that she wanted to be a social worker, but it wasn’t until she was in college that she realized she could work in a school.
“I didn’t know that was a thing,” DiClemente added. “We didn’t have a social worker at ETown when I was growing up.”
Before she came to work at CV, her career started out a little differently.
“I worked in group homes for adults who have intellectual disabilities,” she commented. “My first job out of my master’s programs was actually at Lancaster County Prison. I was a female counselor there, bilingual.”
She then later worked at an alternative school as a social worker before she moved to work at Manheim Township doing the same thing.
“Township and CV are similar in a lot of ways,” DiClemente noted when asked about the difference between the two. “What drew me to CV was that piece of family first… [work] is also family, but there’s that balance.”
CV is a family and the way DiClemente interacts with the students who need her help is proof of that.
“At the end of the day, it’s meeting the needs of the students, families and staff,” DiClemente remarked. “I am here for you, for all of our students, no judgment, my door is always open. I can’t promise to fix the problems, but I can at least walk alongside.”
Work is hard for a school social worker, but taking time for yourself is important.
“I would say, remember the importance of a pause,” Ms. DiClemente said. “I try to be where my feet are.”
As she checks the last thing off her to-do list, Ms. Carla DiClemente lets her hair down, releases a sigh of content, and turns off her mini water feature. Her busy day is complete, and she is heading home.