Regardless of education or immigration status, Allan Hancock College’s noncredit community education counselors guide students toward new opportunities
They come from different countries and backgrounds—all with different goals— and it is Dayana Zepeda’s job to direct the hundreds of students enrolled in Allan Hancock College’s noncredit community education program toward academic achievements many may have never even imagined.
Most start out just wanting to learn English. Some need to earn certificates necessary for better paying jobs or to start a business. For others, the noncredit program serves as a transition to credit courses and transfers to universities and four-year degrees that open them up to new worlds of opportunity.
“We create a welcoming environment of support, where they feel welcome regardless of their education or immigration status,” says Zepeda, a noncredit counselor at Hancock. “We help them feel like they belong at college, walk them through the steps, connect them to resources.”
Each student, she adds, arrives at the school with their own story.
“They bring the richness of their culture and the dreams of their success. The help we give is tailored to each student.”
Dayana Zepeda, Noncredit Counselor, Allan Hancock College
“They bring the richness of their culture and the dreams of their success,” she says. “The help we give is tailored to each student.”
Empathy for the dedicated and ambitious comes easily to Zepeda. When she was 8, she immigrated to California with her parents from Los Guerrero, a village in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Her family settled in the Santa Ynez Valley, where Zepeda learned English and became the first person in her family to graduate from high school and, later, college as an anthropology/Spanish major at UC Santa Barbara.
She went on to earn a master’s degree in educational counseling from the University of La Verne which prepared her own new world of opportunity at Allan Hancock College.
Many of the students Zepeda works with are taking classes for the first time since the sixth grade. Most enroll in English classes, then move on to get their general education degrees. Others sign up for courses in truck driving or computers or other skills to obtain certificates necessary for higher-paying jobs.
“They learn that here in the U.S., anybody of any age, background or immigration status can continue their education with us,” Zepeda says. “A lot of them get further motivated to complete their noncredit goal, or transition into credit classes.”
One of Hancock’s fastest-growing noncredit programs is child-care certification. Once they receive certification, Zepeda says many of the students start up their own child care businesses at home.
“It’s an opportunity for income, regardless of you immigration status,” Zepeda said. “Maybe they can’t work for an employer, but they can work for themselves.”
Every year, Hancock conducts a noncredit recognition ceremony where graduates receive their professional certificates to the applause of proud family members. Witnessing these life-changing graduations is an annual highlight for Zepeda.
“People see their parents or their uncle or aunt or their children achieve something, and they think, ‘I can do that, too,’” she says.
For more information on Allan Hancock College’s noncredit community education programs visit https://www.hancockcollege.edu/communityed/index.php
Written by Andy Furillo
| Regions | Classes & Topics |
|---|---|
| South Coast California | Variety of Classes |
