What do you call it when someone, in coming across an opportunity, carefully considers the benefits and, if sufficiently swayed, goes for it—even if said opportunity involves doing something totally new or unknown? Is that fearless? Bold? What about savvy? Enterprising?

Meet 2024 Self Sufficiency Program (SSP) graduate Juanita Cappas of Springfield, who embodies all the above. Cappas joined the program in early 2022, shortly after she received a housing subsidy through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, at the invitation of Way Finders’ Housing Mobility Program Specialist Sol Pagan.

“Sol gave me the information about how the SSP can help me throughout the process of reaching my goals. I found it very interesting,” said Cappas, mother to Elexani, age 14, and Brooke, age 6.

With the support of Pagan, Cappas started thinking with fresh energy about her goals—for herself, her daughters, her economic stability. Her future. She began an online nursing program through Florida Technical College and, after taking Way Finders’ Credit Success workshop, committed to growing her savings. With the money she saved in her escrow account—established as a participant’s income and share of rent increase—she was able to purchase a car upon her graduation in April 2024.

“It’s a good program, it has a lot of resources for you. Thank you for everything, Sol!” said Cappas, who since 2021 has worked as a care coordinator for Behavioral Health Network. “The credit workshop was good, very informative. They take your credit report, show where you’re lacking. If I had an extra $200, I used to say, ‘Let’s go shopping!’ Now I drop that in savings. I learned to always have at least two to three months of savings for all your bills, that really stuck with me. Just in case of emergency, you never know what, you can lose your job, fall on hard times.”

And then there’s the day Cappas went to the Big E—the Eastern States Exposition—in fall 2022. Amid the swirl of attractions and amusements, something caught Cappas’ attention. Awakening a dream deferred. Likely, she believes, due to her renewed focus on goal setting.

“There was a military booth, and I signed up for information. Later, when I met with a recruiter, I didn’t tell anyone,” said Petty Officer Third Class Master-at-Arms Cappas, a member of the United States Navy Reserve. “I’m not from a military family, but this was always a goal for me. When I turned 18, I wanted to join. But my mom said, ‘No, that’s scary, it’s not for you.’ This time around, going in at age 34, I didn’t need anyone’s approval. I was just going for it. Now I’m a military cop—that’s what ‘Master-at-Arms’ means.”

She was drawn to the Navy Reserve as much by the benefits—career training, health care, life insurance, education (for herself or to pass to her daughters)—as by the desire to set an example.

“Juanita took me by surprise! I called her over Zoom to say, ‘Hey, where are you? How is everything?’” said Pagan. “And she said, ‘I just joined the Navy, I’m here, I’m in Boot Camp.’ That’s a first for me, I’ve never had a client join the military. I am very proud of her, as I’ve told her many times. She is so resilient. And this is just the beginning for her, there is more to come.”

The 12 weeks of Boot Camp that Cappas spent in Great Lakes, Illinois, were intense. They also confirmed what she suspected—that her maturity was an asset.

“You start fresh, taking nothing from the outside world with you. Not your clothes, no cell phone. It was hard, very mental. But it was good, all at the same time,” said Cappas. “Everything is scheduled, they tell you when to shower, when to eat, when to exercise. You are up from 5 am to 10 pm every day. If you can’t follow rules, this is not for you. At 18, I probably wouldn’t have been ready.”

When it was time to go to bed, her group often wanted to stay up and talk. After a day spent doing everything from passing uniform inspections and swimming qualifications to standing watch for two-hour shifts and performing patrols in simulated situations. All while saluting and reporting to superiors and being tested on Navy terminology at all hours.

“I’d be like, ‘This is not the time for chatting, you all need to be quiet and go to sleep! I’ve got watch in two hours.’ And they’d be like, ‘Oh, Mama Cappas is talking,’” laughs Cappas, of her nickname. “But you learn a lot from each other, it’s people from all different races, ethnicities, backgrounds, ages. At the end, you’re basically family.”

Forging a new family—in pursuit of greater things for her own family. Congratulations to you, Juanita Cappas!