Kent Campus faculty member rescues homeless teens

Elise Horowitz is a hero. Not a superhero; however she does have the super ability to infect you with her contagious smile, super sunny personality, and incredible flexibility."Elise is the greatest boss," said Aaron Davis, a student ambassador at Kent Campus. "She is really incredibly flexible and tries to make things work for everyone. She is really unselfish."

Elise graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Family, Youth, and Community Services, with a concentration in Humanities.

A year after graduating, Elise went to work at Daniel Memorial, Florida's oldest child services agency, as a case manager for Project Prepare.

Elise said, "I managed a case load; I hate that word, seems so sterile, makes the clients seem like numbers and not people, of teenagers who were homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless."

"I made sure they had safe housing and if they did not, I worked to establish it. My program, Project Prepare, offered some on-site efficiency style apartments which some youth were eligible to stay in short term," said Elise.

Originally founded as an orphanage, The Daniel Memorial Center has developed into an agency that helps children and teenagers through both mental and social service programs.

"The whole Daniel program was helpful, but I mostly tried to work with Elise," said Chris Duryea, a former at-risk teen that Elise worked with.

"I came from a bad home situation," said Chris, "when I met Elise I was homeless and living in my car. She helped me get into the program."

After housing had been established for a teen, Elise would make sure he or she attended school or began to work towards receiving a GED. If the teen had already completed high school, she would help them get into higher education, such as FSCJ or vocational school.

Elise also taught life skills and assisted with job placement. "Basically, I helped them move from a state of homelessness to a state of self-sufficiency," said Elise.

In Chris's case, Elise helped move her into the apartments used with Project Prepare. She then helped her get her GED and eventually enroll in classes at FSCJ's South Campus.

Chris then transferred to the University of Florida and is currently obtaining her bachelors and moving onto her masters in history education, thanks to the Daniel Program and more so the love and support of Elise.

"I'm a nerd in most aspects, so we get along pretty well," said Chris, "but she was more of a friend than a counselor."

Elise is currently the Student Learning Specialist at Florida State College, Kent Campus. She assists the Student Life and Leadership office with campus wide programs.

She also directs campus programs, which includes the Student Ambassador program, as well as supervising the Student Volunteer Coordinator of Kent Campus, Scarlett Jordan.

"Mrs. Elise is the most incredibly terrific person ever," said Scarlett, "She is so very helpful. She will go out of her way to help any need a student has. She is a very selfless person."

"I really like being here," said Elise with her powers of infectious smile starting to spread, "I can't imagine being anywhere but Kent Campus. I definitely want kids and I'd love to live outside of Florida, but honestly it's all up in the air.