Featured | Business and IndustryAugust 01, 2021

UAFS Student Embraces the Climb from Incarceration to Education

From a life of pain, anger, and self-destruction, UAFS student Ashley Caramez has found a way to heal and reach for a better future. 

The junior, who is enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership program at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, recently received the Rose Award from the Zonta Club of Fort Smith. Zonta makes the $500 award annually to a single mother enrolled in some form of post-secondary school. 

Caramez is frank about her past. Her dad left her family when she was young, leaving a void in her life. 

“I was born on my dad’s birthday, and it was hard to understand why I was not good enough for him,” she said in a recent email. “I turned to drugs to numb the pain and ended up on a path of destruction.”

Ultimately, that path landed her in a facility run by the Arkansas Department of Correction. From that rock bottom, she began to climb.

“Upon my release, I was able to forgive my Dad and make amends with him, and now I have a relationship with my father,” she said. That’s not the only relationship she healed.

“I am now seven years clean, and I have restored the relationship I lost with my children, who are 18 and 19 years old.” McKayla and Austin now live with her. 

Caramez works full-time at Tyson Foods. In 2016, she started there on the production line and worked her way up to the accounting office, where she said she now pays the growers to grow chicken. Upon her graduation, she expects to move into management. 

Her fellow employees at Tyson give evidence that this is a realistic expectation.

Coworker Tina McKee of Tyson Foods described Caramez as “smart, honest, and dependable.” The two worked together for three years. 

 “I quickly realized she is an outstanding problem-solver and welcomes any task assigned to her,” McKee said. 

Caramez’ supervisor echoed this opinion. 

 “I have had the opportunity to see her tremendous work ethic and leadership capabilities,” said Josh Anderson, a senior supervisor at Tyson. “Ashley consistently maintained a positive, upbeat attitude and set the example of being a team player and doing whatever she could to make the business successful and the atmosphere enjoyable.”

Caramez lives in Cove and works in Grannis, so she is glad she can take courses online. 

“My job is very demanding, and I have deadlines that have to be met – much like homework,” she said. Taking courses online “allows me to look ahead and see what is in store for me. If I know that I have a busy week ahead at work, I can work ahead on my homework.”

UAFS faculty members have helped make her successful, Caramez said. 

“I have had the privilege of having some awesome instructors at UAFS who have worked with me when unexpected things have come up at my job that have interfered with my homework.”

Caramez is on track to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in December 2022. After that, she hopes to complete a master’s degree. She doesn’t claim turning her life around was easy: It took her 17 years to complete her associate degree. But she thinks she has something to teach others.

“I no longer let life control me and am living proof that you can turn your life around with will and determination,” she said. “At the age of 40, I feel like my life is finally falling into place. It was scary at first, but I know that I am strong enough to take on the world and trust those around me.”

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