What made me choose Cerritos College was mainly its Community Health Worker program, because it isn’t your typical 80-hour certificate program like the ones I was seeing out there. A lot of schools were offering a really fast 80 hours—you get your certificate and you’re out the door. Cerritos College has more courses and a stronger focus on public health, so it was more in-depth than it would have been anywhere else.

Being an adult and coming back to school was already challenging, especially because I was working when I first started. I had two jobs when I first came, so it was tough. Then I have a daughter, and being there for her while trying to get through school and work, it was a lot. Eventually, I focused on school, but I also tend to overdo myself. I’m also going to school to become an alcohol and drug counselor, so that’s ongoing for another nine months. So, just trying to balance home life, school, being a mom, and maybe having my own time, if I ever had it, that was the main challenge I faced. But everything worked out, and I’m just glad that I’m at the finish line.

Cerritos College is what led me to become a leader. I would say my lived experience has turned into leadership through being a scholar, because I’ve gained so much knowledge. I plan to keep working with Peer Voices for now. I really enjoy working in the re-entry program, where I help develop support groups and assist with workforce development, but I also want to earn my alcohol and drug counseling license.

STUDENT ADVICE

I think you need to be empathetic and compassionate - very compassionate because you’re dealing with people with disorders, which is a sensitive situation, and with people who have gone through trauma and things like that. You have to be really sympathetic and not judge at all—never judge.

I would say that this is the best decision if you’re specifically looking for a community health worker program because, like I said, there are a lot of fast-track 80-hour certificates out there that aren’t going to help you in the real world. So come to this school, and you’ll learn what you actually need to be a good community health worker.

INSIGHT

The work experience helped a lot because you gain a lot of knowledge through volunteering and, yes, paid experience as well. For the internship, I had worked with Peer Voices part-time about a year ago. Orlando, the CEO, would always ask for volunteers, so when I started and knew I was going into this program, I contacted him right away. I asked if I could do my hours with them because I already knew what they were about, and it just felt natural. He was all for it. He already knew what I would be good at, and he suggested that I help facilitate the support groups for the re-entry program.

The fact that this program has in-depth courses has helped me with my advocacy for the clients I work with. Now, just knowing what challenges they face, like different populations and all that; you know, just the things that people deal with, has given me more of an understanding and helped me become more compassionate and empathetic.

Professor Ni has been very helpful. She gave me a lot of feedback, and I really appreciate that. I feel that, because I’ve had her several times, I guess she did a lot of the instruction for this program. It was important to have that feedback. I’ve had classes where they don’t even say anything to you about your homework, so how do we know if we’re doing okay? She’s really helped me throughout the program.