nsherman@s-t.com

September 30, 2013 12:10 AM

This is one in a series of profiles of candidates in this year’s city elections.

NEW BEDFORD — In high school, School Committee candidate Maria Mojica-Mosquea said staff discouraged her, a Puerto Rican daughter of a fishhouse worker, from going to college.

Twenty-two years, an early marriage, two children and several jobs later, Mojica became a UMass Dartmouth alum, now running for office to help others have an easier path.

“I saw my mom working three jobs, I saw how hard she worked and I knew that there are better options and no one showed me those better options, so that’s one of the reasons why I’m doing it,” said Mojica, 41, who achieved her “second goal” — after earning a bachelor’s, owning a home — this summer, moving into a house that fronts the green by the Hathaway School. “I’m still hearing the same experiences that I had and … we’re in 2013. To me that’s just unacceptable.”

For the full article click here.