ECC Stories 2025 - Meet Lorraine Wright

It’s 2022, the world is slowly coming back from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Elgin Community College (ECC) student Lorraine Wright of Geneva, Ill., is ready for a change.

“I was looking for something different,” Wright said. “I didn’t want to go back to bartending and bar managing, so I decided to go back to school.” It had been seventeen years since Wright had been in school, but the timing was right, and ECC was there and ready for her.

Wright is pursuing an Associate in Science–Substance Abuse Counselor degree. During her time pursuing the degree, she finished the certification to become a Recovery Support Specialist (RSS), a program, she said, was a blessing.

“I was an unemployed single mom when I decided to come back to school, and they really assisted me,” Wright said. “In the RSS program, people come from all sorts of backgrounds. It’s amazing, and I hope it sticks around.”

As a mother of three, going back to school has been an adjustment, but Wright said that this time, she’s ready for it more than ever. She is also in the unique spot of preparing her oldest daughter to start her higher education journey at ECC this coming fall.

“It’s crazy that I’ll be finishing around the time she is starting,” Wright said.

With school and life, Wright also balances a full-time job as a recovery coach at Serenity House in Addison, Ill. She first approached the facility looking for an internship to fulfill a requirement for her program. Then, they brought her on as a full-time employee.

“Serenity House has a really good relationship with ECC, and they do a lot for the community and people,” Wright said. “I’ll stay there after I finish here and begin my bachelor’s degree, just doing two classes at a time. I don’t want to set myself up for failure. I have to make sure I’m making time for my kids and just staying organized.”

Wright’s own relationship with ECC has more than she could have imagined. “ECC is one of those connections I want to have for life,” Wright said. “I love all my professors, and I will probably be in contact with them for the rest of my life. I see that with a lot of students here. I love it here!”

Learn more about this hardworking, good-natured Spartan below.

What’s one thing you do outside of ECC? I play with my kids and work out whenever I can. Working out is very important for me and my mental health. I love exercising, and as much as everyone hates cardio, it’s one of my favorites. You need to run that mind away sometimes.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? I wanted to be a psychiatrist when I was really young. I like picking people's brains and diagnosing the whole family. I used to want to be a dancer when I was really little, but it was always a psychiatrist. Maybe one day I’ll get there.

What’s one thing that really makes your day? My children.

Where’s one place you dream of traveling? Probably somewhere in Asia because my daughter loves Japanese culture. She’s been trying to teach herself Japanese; she began learning it while in high school. It would be nice to take a mommy-daughter trip there and explore and eat all the weird foods she likes.

Shout out to an ECC employee or peer! Joe Rosenfeld, PsyD, professor of human services. I love you, Joe; you are the best teacher ever, you little box of knowledge! It’s insane the facts he just spews out and how big that brain is. I like teachers like that. He just has all the stories and facts about this and that – you’ve got 10 IQ points higher after leaving his class.