BRANDON, Fla. — The 1Voice Academy and Hillsborough County Schools renewed its partnership for the next five years. The 1Voice Academy is the only school of its kind, and it helps children continue their education while undergoing cancer treatment.
With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Hillsborough County Schools and the 1Voice Foundation will continue its partnership for the next five years.
1Voice Executive Director, Mary Ann Massolio, says this school would have been a dream for her son, Jay, who was diagnosed with cancer when he was 9 years old.
“All he wanted to do was go to school and I never thought about school as a social worker, and my son passed away six months into treatment,” she said.
Now, students like Ellie and Sophia have a school of their own, equipped to deal with the challenges that come along with battling cancer.
“When I first came, I was bald and there were two other bald girls, and it gave me the confidence to be like, ok, I can be myself, and we all talked about our experiences in the hospital,” said Ellie Andujar, a former 1Voice Academy student.
Both girls are now cancer free and say 1Voice Academy made all the difference in their recovery.
“It made me feel a lot less lonely because I knew the kids here understood what I was going through because they were going through similar things,” said Sophia Carraseo Fuentes.
Which is why Massolio says this school means so much to her, and the continued partnership with Hillsborough County Schools allows her to help even more students.
“They’re celebrating each other, oh you got to ring the bell, how’d your surgery go? Our conversations are a little strange for 7 year olds and 8 year olds, they should be talking about Roblox or something, and we do, but the medical component is something they share and they help each other,” said Massolio.
Hillsborough County Schools provides a certified teacher to come work with students at the 1Voice Academy through their hospital homebound program. Superintendent Van Ayres says this partnership is important to the district to ensure all students have access to education, even when they’re fighting the toughest battles.