Adult school graduate shares her love of learning with others
PHOTO COURTESY OF CANDY TORRES
Candy Torres is passionate about learning. As the first in her immediate family to go to college, she knows getting an education can be life changing. Today, she’s training to become a teacher so she can offer those opportunities to others.
“There are a lot of things that have happened to me in my life and I feel I have to share that experience with children. I feel I have to teach others what I know,” she says. “I won’t be just a teacher, I would be the teacher who helped a child become successful in their life.”
Torres grew up in East Palo Alto until the age of 12, when her family moved back to Mexico. There, she attended middle school, but dropped out of high school to help support her family. A U.S. citizen, she returned in 2013 and worked customer service and cleaning jobs, but wanted to build a better life for herself. In 2016, she enrolled at Campbell Adult and Community Education (CACE) to earn her high school diploma.
“I won’t be just a teacher, I would be the teacher who helped a child become successful in their life.”
Candy Torres, CACE graduate and West Valley College student
At first, she was intimidated about starting school again, but found a very supportive environment at CACE. She says teachers were always available to help and she had access to bilingual tutors who could help her expand her English skills as well as complete her basic adult education.
In the middle of Torres earning her high school diploma, her daughter was born and Torres had to put her education on hiatus. When she returned, teachers were able to provide accommodations and enabled her to do coursework online. Not only were teachers and staff able to support her academically, they encouraged her emotionally as well.
“(My counselor) would give me a lot of good advice and motivation. She would look me in the eye and say she believed in me and that I was going to graduate,” Torres remembers. “I told her I wanted to come back to school, but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to because I had to care for my daughter. She said, ‘Don’t worry, you can come back to it whenever you’re ready.’ … My daughter turned one when I was able to continue my education at CACE, even though it was in a different way.”
In 2019, Torres earned her high school diploma, but didn’t stop there. She’s currently studying early childhood education at West Valley College and is on track to earn her certificate of achievement in 2022. From there, she hopes to transfer to San Jose State University to earn a bachelor’s degree and ultimately pursue a master’s degree in education.
“I’m passionate about what I’m doing,” she says. “I’m happy doing what I’m doing because I’m setting an example for my daughter … (and) this will help her understand that education is important.”
Learn more about Campbell Adult and Community Education at cace.cuhsd.org.
Written by Anne Stokes
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| Bay Area California | High School |
