Aislin Cortes

Valley Adult School

Nominated in 2019

Aislin first enrolled in our program 2 ½ years ago. She had recently arrived from Mexico with no English language development at all. Aislin comes from a low income family and is a 22-year-old single mom. She relies on public transportation to take her son to child care and attend school. Through hard work and dedication, after a little over a year of hard work in her ESL class, she was recommended to the high school diploma program. In less than a year, she completed all the requirements needed for high school graduation. While attending our high school diploma program, she continued to attend our ESL and no-credit child development class. Rain or shine, Aislin maintained excellent attendance. We remember seeing her numerous times arriving to school on a rainy day soaking wet. Other times, she waited for the bus when the weather was over 105 degrees, while other times, she walked over three miles just to get to school.

Aislin volunteered for almost a year in our ESL and basic computer skills classrooms. She asked for this opportunity because she felt she needed to gain experience and attain the necessary job skills to survive in our demanding employment market. When helping in the classrooms, she proved to be a great leader. Students felt very comfortable asking for her help. As a result of taking our ESL classes and our non-credit child development course, she felt confident enough to volunteer at her son's school where she is able to implement some of the theory she is learning in class.

It is evident that Aislin has been meeting every single one of her academic goals. As we mentioned earlier, she is scheduled to walk during our graduation ceremony in June. In addition, she is currently taking a child development course at Mt. San Jacinto College. Her career goal is to become a high school teacher and we don't have a single doubt that she will achieve it.

We are extremely confident to nominate Aislin Cortes for the Students Succeed program!