Adult school let her learn English, earn a diploma and launch a career
One of the many benefits of adult education is it offers a variety of programs in hands-on career and technical education (CTE), ranging from automotive repair to logistics.
CTE was the path taken by Ipolita Yecenia Cifuentes de Leon of Los Angeles. She arrived from Mexico at age 15 with a second-grade education and no English skills. She went on to complete an English as a Second Language course and graduate from high school.
“My dream was always to study hair-styling at cosmetology school,” says de Leon, now 34.
“It made me believe in myself, and now I know that anything can happen.”
Ipolita Yecenia Cifuentes de Leon, Abram Friedman Occupational Center graduate
She applied to several colleges, but tuition was out of her reach. “I gave up on my dream and instead worked three jobs to save enough money to study something else, but I didn’t know what.”
Then a chance meeting with a woman at a bus stop became a pivot point. “I told her that her hair was beautiful and she said she’d had it done at her school, the Abram Friedman Occupational Center.”
De Leon inquired at the school and was told she could start its cosmetology program the next day. Two months in, she entered a state cosmetology competition and won the silver medal.
“I saw I had potential and pushed myself,” she recalls. Six months later, she took the gold at her second competition.
Later, the Friedman Center sponsored her to represent California in a national cosmetology competition, where she placed fourth after a technicality knocked her out of first place.
De Leon took on the role of mentor to other Friedman Center cosmetology students, telling them, “Even though there are sacrifices, you’ll end up with something that speaks for you.”
De Leon even appeared at the State Capitol as an advocate for adult education. “I told them, ‘No one guided me to affordable adult education after high school. I didn’t have a clue, and neither do so many others who need the opportunity.’”
After she earned her cosmetology license, she “jumped to the school’s barber program for a year, finishing in 2018. I have a double license,” she says. “To be a female barber in L.A. is a big deal.”
Now she rents a chair in a salon that she plans to buy. “I was about to sign the papers when the pandemic happened, but the owner is holding it for me.”
She credits the Friedman Center for “completely changing my life. It made me believe in myself, and now I know that anything can happen.”
For more information on Abram Friedman Occupational Center, visit abramfriedmanoc.org.
Written by Allen Pierleoni
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| Southern California | Careers in Business-Technology |
