Workforce Language Services

So many immigrants find learning English daunting as well as exhausting.  It’s often difficult to find the time to commit to English classes when working many hours and trying to raise a family.  But Elodia Lopez is a testament to the possibility of not only learning English, but working towards an advanced degree. 

The Fort Morgan Times provides an educational profile of Lopez as well as insight into those who assisted her as she moved from monolingual Spanish speaker to college student:

Lopez remembers the embarrassment of having to ask her preschool daughter to speak for her in public places. Through her work at Cargill Meat Solutions, Lopez became acquainted with Shirley Penn in Workplace Education, another MCC program.

“She was my angel,” said Lopez when referring to Penn. “She planted the seed in my mind that I could learn anything.”

MCC/Cargill Workplace Education offers ABE and English as a Second Language (ESL) on site, which allowed Lopez to go to school before or after her shift at the plant and achieve her first goal of earning her GED. In addition, Cargill paid Lopez, like other Workplace Education employees, with one-half her hourly wage while attending classes.

To read the entire article, click here.