“My desire to continue my education and earn my high school diploma lead me to enroll at SSOC. What was very helpful to me was that the assessments that I took at the beginning of my enrollment at the adult school helped to gauge my proficiency levels for math and English comprehension.
If I had to tell a friend about my experience, I would tell him/her that the adult school system is a great resource for both earning a high school diploma and a certificate for various technical skills. My goal in the future is to earn a bachelor’s degree in Science in Applied and Computational Mathematics. Currently I’m attending Long Beach City College and on track to transfer to USC for the Fall semester of 2018.

Arlene came to SSOC cosmetology class right after high school. She had some personal obstacles that gave her the determination to complete the program. After listening to a guest speaker from a make-up company, she decided to take professional make-up classes while studying for the cosmetology state board exam. After she got certified, she did her internship at different studio sets. She also worked with many well-known music industry celebrities and TV show actors. Arlene has an insatiable appetite for learning. Her next goals are to earn a barber’s license and to acquire skills in special effects/theatrical make-up. The cosmetology class she took at SSOC certainly laid the foundation for her new career path. Roxana Sanchez, cosmetology instructor, has this to say about Arlene “As her teacher I am very proud of all her achievements. Seeing a young person change into an adult and helping them to improve their future is the most rewarding feeling I can have as a teacher”.

Meet Diana Morales. Diana’s first attempts to get her high school diploma from Bell High School and then the Bell Accelerated College and Career Transition (ACCT) Program didn’t work out. Without a high school diploma in hand, she enrolled at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). While at ELAC, a counselor encouraged her to go back to complete her secondary education. When she returned to the Bell ACCT Program, Ms. Ngo, the Bell ACCT Advisor sat down with her and together they came up with a plan where she was successful in passing the High School Equivalency Test (HiSET). Since Diana had previously completed her required classes in the Bell ACCT Program, passing the HiSET was all she needed to complete her high school diploma requirements.

In June 2017, Diana took the stage as the student speaker at the Slawson Occupational Center Graduation held at the California State University, Los Angeles. Her story resonated with others in the audience. Her biggest motivation to complete her high school diploma came from her hard-working Mexican-immigrant parents who instilled in her the importance of an education. Two years later, in June 2019, Diana walked the stage once again, but this time, it was to receive her Associate of Arts degree in Sociology from East Los Angeles College. Diana is the first in her family to graduate from high school and college.

After fourteen years in the retail business and suddenly without a job because the company he worked for permanently closed its doors, Reginald Rich took time to re-evaluate what he really wanted to do in life. A counselor at the West Adams Worksource Center in Los Angeles helped guide Reginald to Slawson Occupational Center when he decided to pursue career training in culinary arts. In March of 2019, Reginald enrolled in Ms. Carrie Johnson’s Chef Assistant class and is scheduled to complete the Slawson OC Culinary Arts Program in November 2019. While taking his Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes at Slawson OC, Reginald has been working for the Los Angeles Airport (LAX) Gate Gourmet Catering where he assists in preparing the food that is served on the airplanes.

Ultimately, Reginald would like to someday be a chef and have his own business. When asked about giving helpful advice to new students considering attending Slawson OC, he offered the following: “At Slawson, you can tell that the instructors care about you. They want to see you succeed. Don’t be intimidated about going back to school as an adult. Going back to school means having an open mind about the many resources that are available to you. If you want to learn, then you need to listen, pay attention, and apply what you learn to your everyday life. What you learn at school is not restricted to the classroom. You learn skills for life.” It took some encouraging from Reginald’s friend to get him to visit and register at Slawson OC. He is very happy that he chose to attend Slawson OC because he got what he intended to get, and that’s a promising future in a career that he is passionate about. As he approaches the end of the program, he is confident that he will be successful in obtaining a full-time culinary job very soon. By the way, Reginald’s favorite food is pizza and he enjoys making his own fresh pasta! Thank you, Reginald Rich, for your inspiration and words of encouragement to the Slawson community! Slawson faculty and staff wish Reginald continued success in reaching his goals!

To start off the 2020 New Year, The Slawson Source selected Olga Guzman to share her Slawson success story and will no doubt inspire others to work towards their goals. Olga and her husband moved to the United States from their native country El Salvador because of her husband’s job. When they arrived, her husband enrolled in the evening ESL Program at the Huntington Park campus and enthusiastically encouraged her to do the same. She enrolled in Ms. Gordon’s ESL class in the morning also at Huntington Park and was soon promoted to Mr. Crowe’s upper level ESL class in the evening. Olga also enrolled in the Spanish HiSET Preparation class at Tweedy Learning Center with Mr. Fernandez. She successfully passed the Spanish High School Equivalency Exam and received her Certificate of Completion. Like many of our adult students, Olga came to the U.S. with a post-secondary degree. She completed a technical certificate program in Industrial Engineering. For four years she enjoyed working for a company whose clients included Nike, Adidas, and Columbia. She was responsible for creating and maintaining procedures and processes for improvement of work-station areas within the company.