Central Arizona College Provides Educational Pathway for Student from Mexico

By Angela Askey, Executive Director Public Relations and Marketing

After moving to the United States on July 29, 2023, from Mexico, Central Arizona College student Axel Vazquez reached out to the college for assistance in learning English as a Second Language.

Vazquez stated, “I knew about Central Arizona College because it was the closest college to my grandparents’ house, the place where I lived at that time since my parents had to return to Mexico, and we didn’t know anything about living in the USA.” He added, “When I met with my advisor, Ricardo (Ricky) Torres, he told me that I had to meet the necessary level of English to take classes at CAC, for which he suggested that I take ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.”

With the next session of ESL starting in just a few weeks, Vazquez signed up and began his educational journey at CAC.

“In my first day of class I was very excited, but also a little nervous because it was the first time I was going to a school in the USA. Nevertheless, during the first sessions we were still being classified into two groups. Surprisingly, I qualified for the more advanced group. During the first sessions, to be honest, I didn’t understand anything, but my classmates were very kind to me and explained what I had to do. Also, my teacher, whose name was Sydnie, was very good and always tried to make sure we all understood the class. In the first sessions I felt a little frustrated because I saw that everyone understood many things and I understood almost nothing. Nonetheless, I always did homework and followed my teacher’s recommendations, so when I started my second session in October and met new students joining the course for the first time, I was able to realize my progress, and while speaking was still complicated for me, I understood the main points of most of the conversation.” Vazquez added, “One of the hardest but exciting challenges for me was that in November I would have to take a test that would evaluate my English level and would determine if I met what I needed to start my first semester as a CAC student. November came and I took my test, however, to know the results I had to make an appointment with my advisor. During our meeting, my advisor told me about many important aspects, including the results of the test I had taken. Honestly, although I knew that I had made a lot of progress, I was aware that in three and a half months I would not learn enough, so I was resigned to abstain from going to college for another semester. When Ricky told me my score, he seemed very happy and said that I had done very well and was ready to begin at CAC. At that moment I felt very proud of myself, very grateful to my teacher and the ESL classes. Also, I decided that I would continue taking ESL classes, since besides learning a lot, I found them to be a lot of fun.”

Having an interest in psychology, Vazquez started classes at CAC in spring 2024 while continuing to take ESL classes through that May. He started with three academic classes. He admitted that it was a little complicated but at the end of the semester he had earned a 4.0 GPA. He continued taking classes during the Summer 2024 session and in Fall 2024, took 16 credits. With each semester, although he worried about the difficulties of the class, he has been successful in his classes and has maintained good grades.

While attending classes, Vazquez has also served as a student employee for the Adult Basic Education (ABE) department at the Signal Peak Campus. He commented about his experience, “I have learned a lot and put into practice all the knowledge I have learned since I arrived in the United States. In addition, it is giving me the opportunity to work in a different field of work than I was used to, which is making me develop new skills and allows me to reciprocate a little for all the help this program has given me and what it has contributed to making my dream come true.”

Vazquez plans to graduate in May 2025 and transfer to NAU to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work.