(SPEECH)
[AUDIO LOGO]

(DESCRIPTION)
Logo: OTAN. -- A white figure reaches up and out of a blue circle.

(SPEECH)
SPEAKER: OTAN-- Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: California Adult Education Students Succeed 2024. A logo features a green circle with a blue profile of a head with a rainbow spiral in the brain. Another dark blue face profile looks up from the back of the head outline.

(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Angeline Guzman. Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. A photo of Angeline. She has wavy red hair and wears a gray shirt.

Angeline walks with a man down a path outside of a large campus building with the banner, N.L.M.A.S., Education Opens Doors, on the side. She later sits in an office facing us. Text: CAEP 2024 Awardee.

(SPEECH)
ANGELINE GUZMAN: My name is Angeline Guzman. I grew up in Wilmington, California, and I went to school until the third grade.

(DESCRIPTION)
A childhood photo features young Angeline and a toddler boy.

(SPEECH)
Third grade, I dropped out. I dropped out because I had a mother that was an alcoholic.

JANIS GEVIRTZMAN:

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Janis Gevirtzman. ESL and E.L.A. Adult School Teacher, Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. Janis sits facing us in a classroom. She has long black hair and wears a blue shirt.

(SPEECH)
She told me about how she protected her siblings.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: And I had to stay home and take care of them, make sure they were going to school.

(DESCRIPTION)
In a childhood photo, young Angeline plays outside with the toddler boy in a diaper. They play with water from a hose and doll toys.

(SPEECH)
And it was pretty tough growing up with her. And every year, after the third grade, we would get a letter saying that I passed from grade.

(DESCRIPTION)
A teenage photo of Angeline. She sits on a low wall and smiles.

(SPEECH)
It went on until pretty much I was 17.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Robert Guzman. Husband. The man Angeline walked with earlier sits in the office facing us. He is bald with a mustache and goatee and wears glasses and a light blue shirt.

(SPEECH)
ROBERT GUZMAN: She was 18. I was like 22 or 23 years old. And I fell in love with her the minute I saw her.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: We started going out for a year. Then I got married,

(DESCRIPTION)
A wedding photo features Angeline and Robert in a white dress and a suit.

(SPEECH)
and I have three beautiful kids. My husband, he's a great dad. He's such a great dad. He loves his kids.

(DESCRIPTION)
A family photo of the Guzmans and Mickey Mouse.

(SPEECH)
And he comes from a good family.

ROBERT GUZMAN: Our son, being born disabled, dealing with him for 19-plus years in and out of the hospitals.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: So I would do my son's care. G-tube fed, suctioning, changing him, bathing him, picking him up, everything.

ROBERT GUZMAN: We managed to get through it, obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. But we're still here. We're still going strong.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: My first class was with Ms. Gevirtzman.

(DESCRIPTION)
Angeline and Janis walk down a hallway.

(SPEECH)
I walked in, and I don't know. I didn't know what she was talking about.

JANIS GEVIRTZMAN: I knew if I didn't say something or confront the issue, that she was just going to run out of my classroom. So I let her know that she's safe with me.

(DESCRIPTION)
The two chat in a classroom.

(SPEECH)
ANGELINE GUZMAN: That's where everything began. I felt really good every day coming to school, trying not to miss-- not one day, unless it's necessary.

JANIS GEVIRTZMAN: She just fit in because she was so willing to do the work, and she had so much enthusiasm.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: She taught me how to use a dictionary, how to use the words, put them together, how to put an essay together. That, I have never.

ROBERT GUZMAN: As it progressed, now, she didn't need me as much anymore. Now, I'd walk in and she'd be reading her book and writing essays and doing this. So it's been a big change.

(DESCRIPTION)
Angeline and Robert chat at an outdoor table. Later, Angeline checks pamphlets on a school display wall.

(SPEECH)
ANGELINE GUZMAN: Those skills, I gained skills, and I feel really good, very confident. I feel more confident now.

(DESCRIPTION)
Text: Deanna Gross. Mathematics Teacher, Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. Deanna has medium brown hair and wears a blue shirt. She sits facing us in a classroom.

(SPEECH)
DEANNA GROSS: I woke up very early to an email that she had sent me in the middle of the night saying--

ANGELINE GUZMAN: That's it. I'm done. I'm giving up. It's too hard. I can't do this.

DEANNA GROSS: I immediately texted our counselor at the school here, Mr Chavarria, and I said, I'm coming in early, be waiting for me. I got to talk to you.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: Next thing you know, Mr. Chavarria-- my phone was ringing, ringing and ringing and ringing. And, I mean, he wouldn't stop calling me.

DEANNA GROSS: My heart just leapt because it was like, all right, she didn't give up on herself.

ANGELINE GUZMAN: And after class was over, she says, you know what? I was going to go knock on your door. And that right there, when she said that, I said, she didn't give up on me.

(DESCRIPTION)
Angeline and Robert chat with the teachers in the classroom.

(SPEECH)
I believe in myself. My husband believes in me. But sometimes you need that little push. Norwalk-La Mirada has been great to me. They've been awesome. I don't have nothing bad to say about them.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(DESCRIPTION)
Angeline and Robert smile as they talk at the outdoor table. Text: Special Thanks to: Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School. Producer: Karin deVarennes. Director: Douglas Rennie.

Text: Produced by OTAN. Logo: OTAN Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. www dot O.T.A.N. dot U.S. 2024.