Spooner Greenbird is walking across campus at Cal State Channel Islands. It’s a big week for her. She’s finishing up her finals, and this weekend, during commencement ceremonies, she’s going to get her psychology degree.
It’s been a long, emotional road for her. The first time she set foot on this campus was some three decades ago, and it wasn’t a university campus. It was a mental health facility, where her mother was a patient.
"This was once Camarillo State Hospital. My mom had mental health issues," said Greenbird. "My mom was an inpatient. The very first time I came here was as a little girl."
Greenbird was just seven at the time. She said her mother, Sandy, was in and out of the state hospital, as she struggled with her mental health issues.
Greenbird grew up with the difficult task of helping to keep her mother on track as best she, and others could. Her mother was a teacher, but her schizophrenia disrupted her career.
Greenbird said she has no regrets, but taking care of both of her parents, and their health issues delayed her dream of college for years.
Greenbird said after what she experienced with her mother, it’s inspired her to pursue a degree which will help others. She's planning to go on to graduate school to pursue a career in psychology, and she's hoping to eventually return to CSUCI to teach it.
We walk across campus, towards the place where she first saw her mother when she was an inpatient here. We arrive at the campus bell tower, which was a part of the state hospital then, and is still a landmark now. It brings back a powerful memory.
"Well, the bell tower was where my mom was when I first came to see her, and I was too young to visit her. My dad took his van, and parked under the tower, and held me up," said Greenbird. "My mom ran to a restroom, and stood on a sink, and we got to see each other through the bars of that restroom until security made us leave."
As she stands in front of the bell tower, she reflects on how things have come full circle for her as a little girl, and now as a soon to be college graduate keeping a promise to her mother.
"I am honoring a commitment to my mom on her death bed...I said I would get the degree," said Greenbird. "I have a sticker that says 'Proud Mother of CSUCI' (graduate) and I am going to put that on her headstone the day after I get my degree."
What will she say to her? "I'm going to say thank you for being my best friend, for being my inspiration, for teaching me to love learning. I will have good stories to tell you, and I miss you."
