Sarina Heckenberg: Finding Purpose, Place, and a Fresh Start

I didn't plan on going back to school. I planted a garden.

There's a lot on Des Moines Street in Keokuk, a few blocks from where I grew up. For years it was grass and some trees and nothing else. I got sober in 2021, and I was looking for something to fill my time with positive energy. The owners, Pat and Chuck Mayfield, were paying somebody to mow that lot. So I made them a deal. I'd take care of the property if they let me plant on it. They took me up on it.

My family helped me get it started. Now there are raised beds full of tomatoes, peppers and herbs, rows of corn, flower beds. There's a hand-painted sign out by the road that says Peace, Love and Roots Community Garden. When we opened it, we dedicated it to my mom, Tommy Jones, who struggled with addiction too.

We grow all the vegetables and donate them to hungry, needy people, homeless people in the community, whoever needs a little help with food. That's what the garden is about. It just makes me feel whole, to be able to grow and nurture all these plants so that somebody isn't hungry. I've been in places where I've needed food while raising three kids. I think it's important to help families and give back.

That's what pushed me toward school. I wanted a degree in social work so I could keep helping people in the community, not just in the summer, not just with vegetables. I enrolled at SCC in 2024.

My daughter Marley was already in her second year here, so we took Mrs. Grimes' statistics class together. Neither of us sailed through it. We sat at home at night and did our homework together, and some of what one of us understood, the other didn't. So we helped each other.

I know what it looks like, a woman my age walking into a classroom full of kids my daughter's age. I worried about that. It turned out to be one of the better parts. One day around Christmas, I sat in the student lounge decorating cookies with Marley and her friends. It was just fun sitting with the younger girls and listening to them socialize and talk about their goals. I was Marley's mom, but I was also a student there, same as them.

My instructors are a big part of why I stayed. Besides Mrs. Grimes, there was Jodi Cook, Jenna Dunlap and Amber Ruskell-Lamer. They made learning fun and they helped me build up some confidence I didn't come in with. I also worked part time in the library. Julie and Jackie were both very helpful and supportive with my schooling, guiding me on what research I needed or what books they had available. I spent a lot of hours in there.

I graduated in May with my associate degree. It was surreal. It was my first graduation. I didn't graduate high school, I got my GED, so I got to walk the stage and get my diploma at 40.

Then I did a job shadow at a Whole Life Solutions counseling office in Galesburg, and that settled it. Sitting in a room listening to patient stories of their pain and their hurt made me realize that's what I want to do. I'm working on my bachelor's at Buena Vista University now. Five years from now I hope to have a master's in social work, guiding and helping people through hard times in their life.

I grew up poor, with parents who struggled with addiction. That led me to want to turn around and reach back and help those who are living that way of life and can't help their situations. SCC is where I started believing I could actually do it. All the people were so encouraging and kind, and it helped me realize what I'm capable of.

I'm coming up on five years clean and sober. Five years ago I never would have imagined any of this.

The sign on Des Moines Street still says Peace, Love and Roots, with my mom's name under it. If you're in Keokuk, come by.

Planting something and taking care of it and watching it grow, it just does something for you. Just like my journey at SCC did.