My name is Elisa V. Morales. One of the reasons I decided to study and take advantage of the help that the Career Advancement Charter (CAC) program gave me is that I always wanted to study and become a pediatric assistant. That has been my dream since I was a child.

I am from Mexico, I was born and raised there. Unfortunately, I could not fulfill my academic dream because of financial hardships. My parents could not provide the financial support necessary to continue my studies. Furthermore, my father did not want me or my sisters to continue studying. We respected his decision because he had his reasons. In Mexico, parents are not required to send their children to school.

Fortunately, at the age of 15,  I had the opportunity to come to the United States with my parents and brothers. Here I was able to continue going to high school. Unfortunately, due to my parents’ seasonal work, we did not stay to live in the United States. My parents picked strawberries which meant we were only in California during the summer months. Such a short stay meant that my education was disrupted and it was difficult to be successful in high school. Our moves meant I was not able to learn much nor graduate from high school.

I turned 18 and had to work in agriculture like my parents did. I wanted to continue studying but now work was my priority. Shortly after, I got married and had my firstborn. Now my priorities were to continue working and take care of my family. It was very challenging for me to try to return to school.

Now that my children are grown, I want to fulfill my educational goals. I started looking for adult education programs so I could finally earn my high school diploma. Now my main goal was to graduate from high school and show my children that it is never too late to achieve your goals. Furthermore, I also want them to realize that in this country, we can all achieve whatever we want. I want my children to know that education is very important. I also want everyone to know that you will always find help to move forward. There are good people in this world.

I am finally graduating and earning my high school diploma. I feel proud of myself for achieving this important milestone. It gives me a lot of happiness to think that despite the obstacles I was able to achieve my dreams. I know that I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be and what I want to accomplish. I still want to study to be a pediatric assistant. I know that I will achieve it. I will continue to move forward and look for opportunities.

Find out more about the Career Advancement Charter.