Adult Education and Family Literacy Success Stories

Student views GED as ticket to success

For reasons that no longer matter so much, Alex Mendoza dropped out of high school. “But I knew I couldn’t be fooling around. I knew I needed my high school diploma to get a better job,” he said. 

He went to his counselor at Elk Grove High School, who suggested earning his GED through a District 214 Community Education program. He started in the high school equivalency class in August 2022.

Alex’s teacher, Nicol Engel, said, “He was shy but very personable, and made friends with his classmates quickly.” He cheered on his fellow students, celebrating when they passed their GED test. 

“Oftentimes Alex worked the third shift and went home for a couple of hours of sleep before coming to class,” Engel said. “He was very motivated to obtain his high school diploma and move on to the next step in his life.”

For Alex, that next step is classes at Harper College; his goal is to become certified as an HVAC specialist. He started the first two classes in the fall of 2023. “But right now what I have in mind is to learn a bit of every trade—cars, carpentry, plumbing and heating and air conditioning,” he said.

Said his teacher Engel, “Alex is dedicated to his learning and will no doubt succeed at anything he decides to do in the future.”

Alex’s story is one of countless success stories for District 214 Community Education, which is celebrating National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week from September 17-23. AEFL Week highlights the need for and value of adult education in our communities.

Earning diploma helps immigrant pursue her dreams

Alba Jasbon grew up in Colombia. At 17, she became pregnant with her first child—and gave birth to a second child shortly after the first. “I could not continue attending school due to the discomforts of pregnancy, caring for my children and my own lack of motivation,” she said in telling her story. Initially, Alba and her children lived in her father’s home. But when he was murdered in 1998, Alba found herself—a single mother in her early 20s—on the way to the U.S. in search of a new life and opportunities to support her family.

Over the past 24 years, Alba has worked hard—as a waitress, a painter, an Uber and Amazon delivery person, and currently as part of a high school custodial staff. She had a third child, who is now 21. “However, I felt trapped in a routine of constant work, paying bills, and sending money back home, and I forgot about my own dreams and needs,” she said. The trauma of the pandemic left her lonely and “feeling empty,” she said. “I started looking for ways to fill my life with things that were important to me.”

In 2023, Alba decided that one of those things was earning her high school equivalency. “I have continued to think about my dream of going back to school,” she said. In January 2023, she enrolled in the Spanish-language high school equivalency classes of District 214’s Adult Education program, and attended again during the fall session. “Although it is difficult, and sometimes I feel exhausted, I continue working hard since I do not have much more to lose, but everything to gain,” she said.

In October 2023, Alba passed the required tests and earned her high school equivalency. “I am very proud of myself and consider this a small step towards my academic growth,” she said. Her next step is to work on learning more English, and becoming more comfortable speaking English, in another set of Adult Education classes.

Alba’s dream? “I’d like to travel everywhere,” she said. “I’d like to meet people, and learn about cultures in other countries.”

Earning degree readies student for “bigger life” ahead

When Nikki “Winter Belle” Hicks showed up for the first day of High School Equivalency classes at District 214 Community Education, the teacher pulled them aside. Winter had notched a high score on the language arts part of the pre-test. “The teacher pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re going to be out of here before the semester is over.’”

The teacher, Nicol Engel, was right. Winter didn’t need the full semester of classes to pass the test, earning their high school equivalency certificate in November 2022.

Winter had attended Buffalo Grove High School but dropped out after freshman year. “I had been out of school for a long while. But high school was always in the back of my mind. I felt bad that I didn’t graduate; I felt I deserved to have that,” they said. “All of my family members encouraged me to go back, and told me it would be amazing to do. I definitely didn’t want this to be something that hindered my future.” 

Engel said of her student: “They came to the program ready to move forward with their goals. Winter is a prolific reader and has much knowledge on a wide range of issues and topics, which made for exceptional in-class discussions.”

Having achieved their degree, 21-year-old Winter is working in their father’s construction business for the time being. But they say the Adult Education experience in District 214 has left them ready to attack their dreams. “I didn’t just experience education in that class,” Winter says. “I went there to get my degree and to be part of the community. But when I walked out of there, I had discovered I was way better at talking to people. Everyone in class was so different and interesting.”

From her perspective, Engel says, “Winter has a way of uniting people, and lifting others up when they need assistance. I look forward to watching as they move forward in this complex world. They will do interesting things.”

That’s Winter’s goal. They said: “The experience has helped re-ignite my passion to do what I want to do as an artist and in the community. I want a bigger life, and now I’m ready for that.”

District 214’s Adult Education and Family Literacy student and Scholarship winner, Carolina Aguilera

Growing up in Mexico, Carolina Aguilera dreamed of working in healthcare, to help others and to better her life. In September, after a long journey, she will realize her dreams: She will finish her training to become certified as a medical assistant, and is planning to work at a dermatologist’s office.

District 214’s Adult Education and Family Literacy program has been a proud partner on Carolina’s journey. “Carolina is a wonderful, hard-working person. It’s hard not to admire what she has done,” says Carinna Tello, Family Literacy program coordinator and one of Carolina’s teachers.

Carolina came to the U.S. in 1999. She quit high school before graduating, but knowing it was important to graduate, tried to go back to earn her GED. It was hard, she says; she had a baby to care for, and started and quit a GED program twice.

Finally in 2018 she became a student in the AEFL program at District 214. While taking her GED classes in Spanish, she also eventually enrolled in the program’s U.S. Citizenship class.

Since she also was working two jobs and taking care of her four children, it took more than three years to finish her courses. “It was hard. I fell asleep in class a couple of times,” she says. But she received her high school diploma in April 2021. And to cap off her year, she passed the naturalization interview on Oct. 13, 2021, and became a U.S. citizen. She was one of the District 214 Foundation’s Rhonda Serafin Legacy Scholarship Award recipients, receiving $500 to help her pay the citizenship application fee.

“My kids support me a lot, and they are impressed at how much I have done,” she says. “I’m a single parent, so I have to be everywhere for them.”  Two of her children currently are students at District 214’s Elk Grove High School.

Carolina says she learned from everyone at District 214. “I had forgotten my math, how to divide—they taught me how to do it again,” she laughs. “But they also taught me how to manage my life, how to have a plan for the future. Even just hearing everyone else’s story was a big, big help for me.”

Carolina Ibarra and her AEFL Citizenship Instructor Carinna Tello

“I love this program because I see every day how we can improve people’s lives.” – Carinna Tello, AEFL Instructor.

When Carinna Tello came to the U.S. from Mexico 15 years ago, she wanted to learn English. “I came here with my husband and son, looking for better opportunities. But I couldn’t understand any English,” she says. “I’d hide in my apartment because I didn’t want my neighbors to talk to me; I didn’t understand what they were saying.” Mother of a young son, she found it challenging to find time to take classes.

Then she discovered the District 214 Community Education program’s Women’s & Children’s Center. She registered for classes during the day at the Center, where childcare was offered for her son, and also registered for English as a Second Language family literacy classes at night.

After two to three years of classes, she says she felt she could communicate well. And in May of 2009, she joined the Community Education staff: First she was a child care aide at the Women’s & Children’s Center, while she was still taking classes. Then when her teachers noticed her aptitude with computers—and how her classmates would often turn to her for help—Tello was offered a position as a computer instructor.

“I really loved teaching classes,” Tello says. She now wears several different hats as a Community Education staff member: She coordinates programs at the Women’s & Children’s Center, as well as the family literacy programs. She also continues to teach the digital learning class at the Women’s & Children’s Center, coordinates the Spanish GED program, and for the past decade she’s taught U.S. citizenship classes on Saturdays as well. (She herself prepared for—and passed—the U.S. Citizenship Test in the same classes, years ago.)

She says she loves her many jobs because she has walked the same path as her students. “I love the program because I know how much we help immigrants,” she says. “I know what it is to come to this country with no family or support, not knowing the language or the culture. We can help people learn English, learn the culture, but also learn how to access services. They can learn how to communicate with their child’s school and teachers, learn how to talk to their employers.”

Tello’s own son is now 18 and just graduated from high school. Growing up bilingual, he received the Seal of Biliteracy on his diploma.

Says Tello, “I love this program because I see every day how we can improve people’s lives.”

Carinna Tello, AEFL U.S. Citizenship Instructor

AEFL instructor Vanessa Cannon and her passion for adult education.

Vanessa Cannon says what makes her day is when one of her adult education students suddenly “gets” a math concept. “When I see that light go off—that’s it for me,” she says.

Vanessa teaches math classes in the high school equivalency program, part of District 214 Community Education. After starting with the program as a volunteer in 2008, she figures she’s helped at least a hundred students earn their GEDs.

Vanessa’s first “student,” however, was her dad. “My dad was a veteran, and when I was in grade school he went back to get his high school diploma,” she says. “He knew I was good at math. He showed me his book and I helped him with his math. Then he went on to community college on the G.I. Bill.”

Vanessa left her hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois, to study at Northwestern University, where she graduated with a chemistry degree and a minor in math. She’s been working full time as a chemist at Baxter Labs for more than 40 years.

Back in 2008, though, she says, “I needed more than just a job. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled, and thought I could do more.” She started as a part-time volunteer tutor in the GED math classes, then began substituting for the teacher when he was out. After three years she took over the class and joined the staff, and now teaches and tutors for three hours, three nights a week.

Vanessa says her students don’t fit a single description. “They’re all ages—from 19 to their late 60s,” she says. Some have dropped out of high school and are ready to get their GED. Other older students, she says, “want the accomplishment to show their children. Or they want to be able to help their kids with homework, or get a better job. Some have grandchildren ready to graduate, and they want to show the grandkids they have a diploma, too.”

In addition to her full-time job, and her three nights of classes, Vanessa also often will tutor her students one-on-one on the weekends if they need extra help. Why? She says, “Doing adult education—it’s not a job for me. It’s not a career for me. It’s my passion.”