Adult schools provide the training needed for workers that face barriers to employment
Olga Saucedo first came to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Adult Education Center as a mother and wife in search of a career.
She was missing just a few credits before she could finish her high school diploma, so she worked closely with her counselor and teachers on math and English.
“I never realized the value in an adult education center,” she says of her experience attending courses and eventually earning that diploma. “I had heard stories about everything the college had to offer, but never of the offerings of an adult school and of it being free.”
Today, she works at the Adult Education Center as an office assistant helping students register for citizenship courses and more — a position she never dreamed she would be offered after obtaining her diploma. “The counselor offered me a job and, of course, I accepted,” Saucedo says. Principal Anthony Fuller says Saucedo exemplifies the exact student his program is reaching.
“The demographics are clear: The largest group in America right now is working-age adults,” he says, adding that the vast majority of them are under-employed. “These people are all around us, they just need the training.”
That’s where adult education can help. Adult education can teach adults new skills to advance in their current job, start a new career, or even move on to a four-year college. “We’re trying to reach out to the adults out in the region working service jobs and get them onto pathways so that they can come back to school and realize school is something they can do,” Fuller says.
Saucedo knows firsthand the struggles students have when they come back to school. By working at the Adult Education Center and educating herself in all high school requirements, Saucedo has also been able to help her son who was struggling in high school math. Because of her knowledge in what the center offers, her son was able to take math classes at the adult school and graduate on time, she says.
The Adult Education Center employees meet with students from all walks of life. They know that by obtaining a high school diploma, more doors will open for them — doors to better jobs, college and more.
“I know the value in education, and I empathize with all students that walk through our door,” Saucedo says.
“[Working adults] can come back to school and realize school is something they can do.”
Anthony Fuller, Adult Education Center principal
For more information, visit www.santamonica4adulted.org.
Written by Jennifer Bonnett
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| South Coast California | High School |
