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[AUDIO LOGO]

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A logo of a white person in a blue circle reaching their arm up. O TAN.

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SPEAKER 1: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

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California Adult Education Students Succeed 2024. Ana Laura Romo, Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. CAEP 2024 Awardee. Ana strolls up to a campus building.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

ANA LAURA ROMO: My name is Ana Romo. Yeah, I was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico. It was a small town in Jalisco, Belén del Refugio.

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A photo of Ana smiling as a young girl.

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My life there was like happy, like nah, like growing up with my siblings. I have so many. I have 11 siblings.

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Adults and children smile in a group photo.

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My parents, my grandparents--

VICTOR ROMO:

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Victor Romo, husband.

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Her and her mom used to own a store. So every time I would just go like every-- I don't, every 15 minutes just to bug her.

ANA LAURA ROMO: My mom had a store selling any kind of stuff, fruit, vegetable.

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Ana and an older woman work in the bed of a truck.

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Working at the store also helped me on my job, my actual job now, like helping people, like working around people.

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A group of students pose in graduation caps and gowns.

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I graduated high school from there. Then I came here to the United States when I was 19.

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Ana poses in a photo as a young woman.

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It was so hard when I came here because since I was so young, everybody thought I know English. And everybody was talking to me in English, and I was all confused. I don't even know what is your name. When

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A photo of Victor and Ana hugging.

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I came here, I was working at a warehouse at the beginning. And at nine I was going to school to ESL classes.

VICTOR ROMO:

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Victor.

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I found out she was here on Myspace. So I just hit her up and just bugging her again to get a date with her.

ANA LAURA ROMO: I actually met my husband at my town because the parents are from the same town I am. So I know him since I was 15.

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Ana peruses pamphlets on a wall in a campus building.

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During my time here in the United States, I attended like four ESL classes adult school. This is the school that had the most-- the perfect school for me. This

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An instructor speaks to Ana in the hallway.

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school actually helped me a lot because they have the ESL classes, but they have every teacher for every level.

DEANNA GROSS:

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Deanna Gross, ESL and Mathematics Instructor, Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School.

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She went through all five levels of our program, and she just didn't give up.

ANA LAURA ROMO: I improved my English. I thought I would never speak English. It was so hard at the beginning.

DEANNA GROSS: She was able to come to classes while she took her child to our on-site preschool.

ANA LAURA ROMO: This school it has teachers like great teachers. They motivate me.

DEANNA GROSS: She would go to a math class a couple of days a week. And on the days when she didn't have math, she would come back to me in English as a second language.

ANA LAURA ROMO: Like they tell stories to students like, yeah, nothing is impossible. Everybody can do it.

DEANNA GROSS:

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Ana and Victor walk hand in hand smiling.

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She was continually motivated to do better for herself, for her child, for her husband, for her family.

ANA LAURA ROMO: Something came to my mind, like, that's true. It's like I can do it. I can do it. After completing my ESL classes, I jumped to the high school classes.

JOYCE JANG:

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Joyce Jang, ILC Instructor, Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School.

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Ana Romo is a shy person. But that doesn't get in the way of her studies or her completing her goals.

ANA LAURA ROMO: Adult education helped me to learn English and get my US citizen and my high school diploma.

VICTOR ROMO:

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Ana beams holding her citizenship certificate and waving a small American flag. Victor.

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It helped us as a family when she was going to school because now she was able to find a job.

ANA LAURA ROMO: When I used to ride the buses when I was working with the kids, so that's when I decided I wanted to be a bus driver.

VICTOR ROMO:

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Ana wears a costume of glasses, a bow tie and suspenders as she smiles in front of a bus.

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How in the world is she's going to drive that big bus, I just still can't believe it. Even I couldn't do it.

ANA LAURA ROMO: It took a lot of time and effort to be a bus driver, to learn all the regulations.

VICTOR ROMO:

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A group of adults pose in front of a bus.

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She'll be practicing with the big bus, just going back, doing maneuvers, trying to park within two cones.

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Deanna Gross.

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DEANNA GROSS: It's just so exciting to hear after she graduated that she came back and got a job within our district.

ANA LAURA ROMO: The best part of being on my job is maybe because I'm around kids.

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Ana grins with kids.

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I love working with them, their smiles.

DEANNA GROSS: She's just a part of the family now, and we couldn't be prouder of her. I couldn't be prouder of her as a teacher.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Ana and Victor sit under a tree smiling. Text: Special thanks to Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. Producer: Karin deVarennes. Director: Douglas Rennie. Produced by O TAN Outrech and Technical Assistance Network. O T A N dot U S. 2024.