Mom Finds New Outlet for Her Skills

Linda Carruthers doesn’t really have dozens of nieces and nephews, a fact that sometimes confuses her Mission College colleagues who constantly direct students to their “Aunt Linda” in the school’s counseling office.

“I guess I haven’t learned to say ‘no’ to kids who need me,” said Carruthers, who finds herself frequently offering troubled teenagers a helping hand and greater opportunities through education. “I give them a home until they can stand alone, but they know they can always come back.”

There may be a more popular figure in the northeast Valley, but the students at Sylmar’s Evergreen Continuation High School and the Pacoima Community Youth Culture Center--many of them former dropouts, drug addicts and gang members--would be hard-pressed to find one they love and trust more than the 53-year-old educator.

“Linda is an angel,” said Evergreen High’s English teacher Judy Gerson, her voice choked with emotion. “She makes it possible for dreams to even exist, let alone come true. These students don’t have dreams when they come here, but Linda opens that door.”

Carruthers, a Sylmar resident, has been making dreams come true for some of the Valley’s most disillusioned youth for more than a decade, in her role as both a recruiter and counselor for Mission College.

Some would argue she is also a book wrangler, mother figure and stern but loving education advocate who hasn’t yet met a child undeserving of a second chance.

“Linda, more than anyone I know, can talk one-on-one to the toughest kids and treat them as human beings,” said Rose Castanada, a Pacoima Community Youth Culture Center instructor and one of Carruthers’ closest friends. “She’s down-to-earth and can reach them at their level.”

On a recent Thursday morning, Carruthers and Gerson watched with satisfaction as an Evergreen alumna served as proctor for a Mission College placement exam, which most of the high school’s 30 Bridge Program students showed up to take.

Created by Gerson and Carruthers in 1992, the Bridge Program sends the continuation students to Mission College to earn high school and college credits simultaneously, and most important, to gain the opportunity to succeed in a world they often view with hostility.

“Linda pushes us to the limits,” said 18-year-old Evergreen student Nancy Moreno, who will graduate next spring. “There are no excuses with her. You’re just going to do it.”

Carruthers, a mother of three, knows how hard it is to raise children alone, as she did after her husband died in 1972 while serving in Vietnam.

Gerson and Carruthers became friends in 1977 when Carruthers enrolled her youngest son, Ricky, at Evergreen as an academic last resort.

After earning her associate’s degree from Mission College in 1987, Carruthers became a recruiter for the Sylmar college, and made Evergreen the first stop in her successful crusade to bring disinterested teens into the educational fold.

The enthusiastic educator, who also tutors and mentors students at Pacoima’s youth center 60 hours a week, has enlisted the help of Mission College students, many of whom now donate their books to incoming Evergreen teenagers who can’t afford to buy the pricey texts.

“I want these kids to know that they have a chance at life,” Carruthers said. “They will stand side-by-side with other citizens some day, so I just want to see that they get launched.”

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