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Photos of Jose Rodriguez, Wesley Farris, Delfino Rodriguez, Angelica Padilla, 2005 ACSA 2005 John Swett Award

Delfino Rodriguez in a classroom

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NARRATOR: Delfino Rodriguez spoke no English when he came to this country. He found adult education to be the path to better employment and lifelong learning. Delfino now teaches both children and adult learners.

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Delfino

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DELFINO RODRIGUEZ: It was pretty hard because I had to come and went to work in a farm in Santa Maria picking up strawberries. I work in the fields for a few months, and then I moved to the city. And I was doing different jobs waiting or as a waiter, busboy, dishwasher, all of that. And finally I decided to go to school or to come back to school in '99. Because I thought it was not possible for me to go beyond a certain level of salary--

SUE DANIELS:

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Sue Daniels, Retired ESL/Academic Instructor

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Delfino came to my II lab at Adams at night. And he was already fluent in English. He took the GED in Spanish, passed it way above 90%.

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Delfino

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DELFINO RODRIGUEZ: I went back to adult school. I took different classes. And then finally, I took the GED in Spanish.

JAN BRITTAIN:

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Jan Brittain, Retired Principal, Jefferson Adult School

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When he came here, he just knew he was going to make it, and did everything he could. He didn't sit back and wait, he took risk and made it happen. He knew he had to get an education. He knew he had to adapt. I mean, that was his motive for coming was to progress as a person.

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Diploma and certificate

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NARRATOR: Delfino earned his AA degree and then went on to earn his BA degree in early childhood education while working as a preschool teacher.

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Delfino

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DELFINO RODRIGUEZ: Well, I have two jobs. I have the day job for the [INAUDIBLE] Education Center. I work with the preschoolers. And I work at the adult school also here at Venice. I teach computer applications and also the GED in Spanish. But I taught English. I taught the GED in English. I taught different subjects. I mean, yeah, I'm a jack of all trades in regards to education. Basically that's what I'm doing right now.

Adult ed has that welcoming atmosphere that makes students not to be afraid. Sometimes you come in and you are afraid of learning because you might have not been successful in your own country when learning. Maybe you are like the dumbest kid in the block. So you coming here already with those fears. When you enter a classroom and you'll see people working and helping and you'll see the teacher with a big smile in front of you, that's really encouraging.

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