Jose Luis Vasquez Palacios: Dreams to Reality

Recently, Teacher Laetitia ran into one of her former students, Jose Luis Vasquez Palacios.   Nine years ago, he was in her Beginning ESL class.  Now he is producing a television show and getting ready to attend San Francisco State University in the Fall.  He was kind enough to share his story with us about how he achieved his goals and what we can all do to achieve ours.

Jose Luis Vasquez Palacios

Jose Luis moved to the US from Guatemala ten years ago.  He attended San Mateo Adult School from 2008 to 2012. At that time, Luis had in his backpack a few books, some CD’s and several dreams despite an empty stomach. He started with Teacher Laetitia in Low Beginning ESL and finished with Teacher Elizabeth in Advanced class.  

At San Mateo Adult School, Luis found people who believed in him, and the support he needed to succeed. He learned not only excellent educational lessons, but also lifetime lessons that he took to his heart until today.

From SMAS, he went to College of San Mateo.  He took just a few ESL classes at CSM and then started taking regular classes.  He majored in Digital Media and TV Production at CSM.

He received a Phi Theta Kappa Key scholarship.  He graduated from CSM cum laude.  Cum laude means with highest honors.  Only 35 out of 152 students graduated cum laude at CSM that year.  He had a 3.4 GPA

He will start San Francisco State University in August of 2017 and major in TV and Radio Journalism.

We works at KCSM as a producer and host of “What’s Up, San Mateo.”  The show airs on Saturdays at 2 pm and covers community events.  Videos of it can be seen on Youtube.

He also creates the videos needed for the CSM Excel Online course.

Q:  What is the message you hope to convey through your work as a journalist?

To tell people we all have dreams and goals and all of them are possible if we set up a plan.  It’s not just having a dream.  It’s about how we start.

Q:  Do you have any advice for SMAS students?

To learn as much as you can.  Don’t take school for granted because it’s free.  Make the best of it.  Come and pay attention. Do your homework.  Get involved in school activities and culture is very important.

Q:  Successful people always someone behind him who loved and supported them.  Who is that person for you?

My mom, Elizabeth Palacios.  She made me the person I am.  She taught me to be open-minded and humble enough to listen to advice, but also strong enough to be independent.  She also corrected me.  She gave me the balance I needed in life.

Q:  Any last thoughts?

I will always be thankful to all SMAS stuff for being there for me and making every school day special. My achievements are theirs, too, because they are my road trip partners.

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Ram Chandra Subedi: Helping Himself; Helping Others

Ram Subedi

Ram Chandra Subedi came to the San Mateo Adult School in May 2000. He spoke little English and was very excited by the idea that, here in California, education is available to all. He was a dedicated student, devoting many hours to English as a Second Language, and then, the Adult Learning Center where he prepared for, and attained, his GED. During the years that he was a student with us, he was a valuable and enthusiastic participant in many extra-curricular activities. He represented Nepal at International Day celebrations, educating our students and staff about life there. He also spoke at student assemblies, inspiring students to persevere in their pursuit of education.

He has never forgotten the poverty from which he came or the plight of those still in Nepal. Education is inaccessible to most children in Nepal and the lack of a high school education is the biggest obstacle to success.

Now employed as a dealer in art and antiques, he has established the Nepal Children’s Fund. His mission is to provide teachers of mathematics and English for Nepalese schools to combat the 80% failure rate in these subjects. He solicits donations, organizes fundraisers, and has established an import business to support this fund. He imports handicrafts, antiques and embroidered goods.
In addition, Ram and his employer provide scholarships which pay for tuition and school supplies for Nepalese children, and one to help a deserving graduate of the San Mateo Adult School continue his/her education at the college level.

The dedicated and caring teachers at the San Mateo Adult School offer encouragement and understanding along with the curriculum. ESL teachers Vasyl Barlak, Mary Peros and Janelle Becerra were particularly helpful to Ram as he worked on his grammar and pronunciation. Bruce Neuburger, teacher of ESL and Video Production, helped Ram with his spoken English and taught him how to create and edit videos. These skills are very helpful as he makes fundraising presentations for the foundation.

Diane Hageman is an excellent teacher, patient and careful in her explanations. She was Ram’s teacher of Modem Office Technologies where he has mastered computer applications for the business world.

Jan Becker tutored and encouraged Ram to study for, and pass, each of the four GED subject examinations.

The San Mateo Adult School offers training in English, job skills, and adult basic education, the trio of which form a strong foundation for success in our competitive society.

Ram Chandra Subedi is an outstanding example of an individual who understood the importance of these opportunities and has used them to not only support himself, but also, to contribute to the improvement of the lives of others.

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Leticia Navarro: From Student to Teacher

Leticia Navarro

A visitor to Leticia Navarro’s fourth/fifth grade class in the Fiesta Gardens Spanish/English bilingual immersion school in San Mateo, is struck by how quickly the children volunteer answers. A flow of Spanish with an occasional English word woven in if the Spanish doesn’t come quickly to mind, serves to get the point across. All the students are using the language they have to engage in the task at hand, whether the lesson of the moment is in Spanish or English.

“That’s one of the things I learned from my experience as a student in ESL classes at the Adult School”, Leticia notes. “Make a comfortable atmosphere where the students can be free to use the language they have to communicate. When I first came to the United States I was so afraid to say anything or go anywhere. Then I came to the San Mateo Adult School and my life in the United States changed.”

Leticia came to the United States from Mexico in 1989 after she had finished high school. Her father had come to the United States many years before and had been part of the Amnesty program of 1986. In 1989 with his immigration status stabilized, he was able to reunite with his family. Leticia’s father had benefited from the Adult School by taking the English classes he needed in order to qualify for Amnesty.

Encouraged by her family, one of Leticia’s first stops was the San Mateo Adult School where she enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. From the beginning Leticia was struck by the manner that the classes were taught. Students were constantly encouraged to use the English that they had acquired. “The thing I remember most about my first class with Tim Doyle is that we went on field trips into the community. We learned how to take public transportation by riding on the bus and the train. I had never gone anywhere in the United States by myself without my father or brother. After we took a school trip to San Francisco, some friends that I had met in the class and I went by ourselves on the weekend to San Francisco. I felt so independent.”

She was so inspired by another teacher, Maria Roddy, who gave short critical thinking passages from famous writers in her Low Advanced ESL class that Leticia struggled mightily and read her first book in English, Les Miserables. Leticia studied morning through evenings and eventually honed her skills in ABE classes to the point where she felt ready to go on to community college. There Leticia balanced school, a job and romance, getting married to a man who like herself chose to go on to a four year college to become a teacher.

Leticia is now a pillar at the Fiesta Gardens school where parents, administrators and kids refer to her as “the wonderful Ms. Navarro” In her nine years at the school she has spent much time with the native Spanish and English speaking children with their struggles to acquire a second language. Her recent challenge along with all public education teachers is how to respond to the increased pressures of standardized testing, made worse by the fact that her students have to take standardized tests in two languages. An added pressure from the testing is that students in bilingual programs often do not manifest high test scores until their sixth or seventh year in bilingual schools. Panicked parents need constant reassurance that their children are learning at an appropriate pace and will eventually come out with higher cognitive abilities than their single language peers.

For Leticia the classroom is a place of transformation, where students can learn and grow. For her, part of the path was formed at Adult School where she says she gained a foundation in a new language and new culture and at the same time learned about how education could happen in a new way.

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Alvaro Pirir: Out of the Rain and into the Warmth of San Mateo Adult School

Alvaro Pirir

“On a stormy day, years ago, a very wet little boy holding the hand of a frightened little girl, entered my office and asked, in Spanish, “Is this a school?” That is how I met Alvaro Pirir,” remembers Meredith Hystad, Student Services Aide at San Mateo Adult School.
“Political refugees, his family had recently arrived in San Mateo from Guatemala. Traumatized by Guatemalan civil war experiences, afraid of this new land, and unable to communicate, his mother hid in their apartment with the four children,” continues Meredith. “Finally, Alvaro, at 14, decided that his younger sister and brother should be in school. On the day I met him, he had wandered the streets with his little sister in tow, seeking directions to a school, until he found the San Mateo Adult School. Now armed with the information be needed, he thanked me and went back out into the rain on his mission to the elementary school district.” Alvaro and Meredith quickly became friends, and she continued, “to help him negotiate the rules and regulations of the school districts.”

“Months later he appeared again, this time, beaming,” says Meredith.

“My younger brother and sister are in school,” Alvaro told her, “My older brother and I have jobs. Now, I can go to school, too!”

“He enrolled in high school, but soon learned that he would not be allowed to work full time while a high school student. He worked two jobs until he was 18, and then entered the adult school ESL program to improve the English he had learned on his own. When he entered our Adult Learning Center to study the high school English and mathematics he had missed, he was reading at the third grade level. Teacher Jan Becker recognized the potential of this bright and determined young man. She gave him special guidance in his Basic Reading and Basic Math classes, helping him to learn how to approach the challenges of effective studying and test taking. Under her tutelage, Alvaro raised his reading level from third grade to ninth grade in only four years. His math skills, which were minimal when be began studying with her, increased dramatically. By the time he finished his work with her, he had attained a GED and had the confidence to enter the College of San Mateo.”

Alvaro wanted to enter the nursing program at the college, but discovered that it required a GED, so he returned to the adult school to complete the GED program while still taking college classes and working. He was driven, and sometimes needed a gentle reminder to be patient and to treat himself more gently. These reminders came from the encouragement of dedicated staff like ESL Coordinator Tim Doyle, teacher Mary Peros, and his friend Meredith.

In 2003, Alvaro won the Luis Blum Memorial Scholarship, which salutes “the pioneering spirit” of “those who strive to make life better for themselves and future generations in the United States of America”. This scholarship paid for his books for two semesters at College of San Mateo.

“Recently, Alvaro and his two brothers pooled their money and bought a small house in Hayward, CA. He continues to work and study with the goals of becoming a registered nurse, earning a Bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State College, and then, if he can save enough money, go on to medical school to become a physician.

“Alvaro has helped support his mother as she adjusted to a new country, he encouraged his siblings to pursue education and work together for a common goal, and he set ambitious goals for himself and accomplished them. Six years ago, he didn’t know one word of English. Today, he is well on his way to being a registered nurse and earning an Associate of Arts degree. His easy grin and eternally positive attitude infect everyone he meets.”
What a happy accident that Alvaro first wandered into the San Mateo Adult School!” says Meredith. “This positive and flexible environment has made it possible for him to study despite his demanding work schedules. He has benefited from the kindness and patience of his ESL teachers, who taught him how to communicate in his new language. And under the guidance of his Adult Learning Center teachers, he learned how to study and prepare for examinations.”

“Now, busy with college classes and working, Alvaro still finds time periodically to visit us, update us on his progress, and thank us.”

 


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Successful Transplant

Former SMAS Student Hiro Hiyama

Hiro and Misuzu Hiyama and their business, Utsawa Floral Design, are successful transplants in the USA, thanks to support from the San Mateo Adult School.

Hiro and Misuzu moved here from Japan.  Hiro learned plant design and bonsai from his grandmother and uncle.  He and his wife, Misuzu, had a successful floral business in Tokyo.

They wanted to open a business here in the Bay Area.  They knew they needed good English and understanding of US Culture to be successful here.

 So they came to the San Mateo Adult School. 

They studied ESL with Teachers David, Mary, and Vasyl. 

Misuzu studied in Distance Learning with Teacher Cynthia.

And Hiro studied how to get a job and start a business with Teacher Martin in the special class Martin started to help ESL students find jobs, Passport to Employment.

They learned how to speak clearly, communicate well, and understand US culture.

Now their new business is a big success.  The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about it.  You can read the article here.  You can find Utsawa on Facebook here.

To find success in a new place, both plants and people need support while they grow new roots. 

Once their new roots are strong, they flourish and we all benefit.

San Mateo Adult School helps immigrants contribute their unique skills, gifts, and beauty to our community.



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Working Together for a Better Future

On Friday, October 8th, San Mateo Adult ESL students worked together for a better future for all of us, by preparing the ground for fruit trees.

These trees will add to the already thriving school garden as well as lower the overall carbon dioxide content of our planet's atmosphere.

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International Day 2010

On June 18th, San Mateo Adult School students and staff celebrated the many cultures that make our school, community and world such a rich and wonderful experience.

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