Students share their paths to career education and new goals
The Kern Adult Education Consortium gives underemployed individuals the opportunity to earn a college and technical education (CTE) certificate for skills via career education classes that can lead to a better-paying job or even higher education. CTE certifications are available for occupations in manufacturing, allied health care, business, agriculture, construction, information technology and more. Here’s two stories of how adult education helped put local people back to work.
Humberto and Nuri’s story
For California City resident Humberto Balderrama, the chance to earn a CTE certificate came after years working as a self-employed cabinetmaker.
More than two years ago, his teenage son, Nuri, told his father that the school he took welding classes at — Mojave Junior Senior High School — also offered welding classes at night. “He told me it was a great opportunity,”
Balderrama says.
The idea of learning a new trade intrigued him, Balderrama says. So he enrolled in the program and took classes from 5-9 p.m. on Wednesday nights.
“This has definitely changed my life.”
Humberto Balderrama, Adult School welding student (pictured with son and fellow welding student, Nuri Balderrama)
At first, he thought welding would be an easy skill to learn, he says.
“It was a big surprise learning that it’s so technical,” says Balderrama. “It’s a lot of safety issues which we didn’t think about until we learned the process, and it’s a lot of chemistry involved.”
Though challenging, he says he enjoyed getting instruction from expert teachers. He recently earned his certification and plans to seek advanced welding classes soon, he says.
Meanwhile, his son says welding inspired him to continue his education. Nuri says he plans to attend a technical college someday and earn a bachelor’s degree.
“I want to be a mechanical or electronics engineer,” he says. “I want to create pieces for machines. It gives me a good feeling knowing that I have something to give to the world.”
Meanwhile, Balderrama says he wants to put his welding skills to work by pursuing a career in construction, working on Los Angeles high-rises.
“This has definitely changed my life,” the older Balderrama says.
Ruth’s story
Photo by Juan Tobias Jr.
When Ruth Yesenia Barrientos-Pineda married and moved from her home in El Salvador to Delano in 2008, she says not being able to speak or understand English made life difficult as she tried to adjust to her new environment.
A doctor in her native county, Barrientos-Pineda knew she needed to learn English for a chance at a new career in her new country.
Then, some friends told her about the Delano Adult School near her home and how it had an English as a second language (ESL) program.
Barrientos-Pineda says she began taking ESL classes at the Delano Adult School that same year. She recalls attending every morning, five days a week. After putting her studies on hold for awhile, she completed her ESL certificate in 2016.
Inspired, she says she set a new goal for herself: to pursue her high school equivalency degree or GED.
“I know that obtaining my GED is the first step to a career or a better job,” she says,
She credits her teachers at the Delano Adult School for motivating her on those days when she felt discouraged.
She graduated from the Delano Adult School with her GED that year, and decided to continue her education by taking more classes at Delano to learn to use software programs like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Recently, she began taking classes at Bakersfield College. She has already completed a political science class and a course in communications, she says.
Barrientos-Pineda says she may want to practice medicine again one day. But for now, she wants to explore all of her options.
“I want get a good job in the future,” she says. “But my goal is to be a better person and be in service to others. I want to continue going to Bakersfield College because it will be a door to getting a better job.”
“My goal is to be a better person and be in service to others.”
Ruth Yesenia Barrientos-Pineda, Adult School student
For more information on Kern Adult Education Consortium, visit https://www.kernaec.org/.
Written by Gail Allyn Short
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| Central California | Careers in Manufacturing-Construction – English as a Second Language – High School |
