Skip to main content
Endicott College
Apply Request Info Plan a Visit

Sherley Belizaire

Since coming to the U.S. in 2009, Sherley Belizaire has gone from not speaking any English to being an Endicott Boston alumna and lead teacher at a YMCA.
Sherley Belizaire 2017 Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies

From Haiti to Endicott Boston

Sherley Belizaire’s Endicott College story began when she was a little girl growing up in Haiti. She dreamed of working with children someday, and Endicott Boston helped her achieve that goal.

"Endicott welcomes everybody, and they really push for the student’s success,” Belizaire said. “I love that, I really love that. It feels like a family."

Belizaire spent most of her childhood in Haiti before coming to the United States in 2009, and she didn’t speak any English before entering Boston International High School as an English as a Second Language (ESL) student. 

With cost being a major issue, Belizaire started looking at colleges around Boston, and her high school counselor had a life-changing recommendation for her – Endicott Boston. Belizaire was impressed with the support she saw for immigrants, including from Endicott Boston Director and fellow immigrant Marcelo Juica.

Belizaire was part of Endicott Boston’s Fall 2013 incoming class, and she initially worked her way toward an associate’s degree in integrated studies. She intended on turning her desire to work with children into a career in the medical field, but an internship at a YMCA childcare center changed everything.

She realized being a preschool teacher was her calling, so she also pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in early childhood education.

While working toward her degree, which she finished in 2017, Belizaire worked as the second teacher in a Preschool Expansion Grant classroom at the East Boston YMCA before her recent promotion to lead teacher at the Roxbury YMCA.

Her dream is to work for Boston Public Schools, and she’s well on her way with her paraprofessional certificate through the BPS Community Paraprofessional Development Program. She soon hopes to take the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL), and she plans on earning a master’s degree in special education or ESL.