Education Opportunity Migrates to Nation’s Farmworkers

Approximately 130 grantees attended the conference to receive OME technical assistance and collaborate. The agenda featured two student speakers, among whom graduated under a HEP grant and one who’s studying in a CAMP-funded college program.
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Maria Fister, director of Wake Tech’s HEP, organized for Barrientos to talk at the Washington meeting. “Students make a commitment not only to their personal education goals but to the program.”
“These HEP and CAMP programs change lives for many generations,” said Lisa Ramirez, manager of both OME and the Office of School Support and Rural Programs, as well as the daughter of migrant workers and a former migrant worker herself. “To my knowledge, there is no other program that is set up the way HEP and CAMP are set up, and the support activities that we provide to our students are unique.”
Nationwide in 2016, 2,405 migrant and seasonal farmworker students earned a high school equivalency diploma through HEP, and 1,475 migrant and seasonal farmworkers completed their first year of college through CAMP.
The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Migrant Education (OME) recognizes the challenges that migrant families confront and manages two competitive grants that provide high school and college opportunity for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The High School Equivalency Program (HEP) funds selected two-year community schools, four-year universities, and nonprofit community organizations that provide high school equivalency courses tailored to the needs of those pupils. The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) grants money to community colleges and universities to provide migrant students their first year of post-secondary education.
We want them to go to college, to get better employment,” Fister said.

Photo in the top: Yolanda Ambrosio Barrientos arrives with her family for her high school equivalency graduation at Wake Tech’s partner school Wayne Community College, where Yolanda attended courses. Wake Tech HEP has collaborations with community colleges across North Carolina (photo credit: Maria Fister).

Yolanda Ambrosio Barrientos (right) and a co-worker pause in the plant nursery where they work. (In the photo at the peak of this post, Ms. Barrientos is shown arriving with her family for her high school equivalency graduation.)

Acting Assistant Secretary Jason Botel presents an award to CAMP student speaker Sandra Reyes (centre) while Project Director Jennifer Nunez looks on (photo credit: Mike Johnston).

Ramirez explained why having student speakers is crucial. “The tenor of the students’ speeches reminds us that every day, we are not just pushing paper; that what we do affects lives,” she said. “Yolanda’s speech reminded us that not all pupils are young kids and that being a lifelong student is critical. And someone can endure domestic abuse and still be an English-language student, and the advancement doesn’t stop there.”

Published at Wed, 20 Sep 2017 20:01:20 +0000

Reyes overcame performance stress and challenges in family relationships while she was a farmworker and is presently pursuing college studies under CAMP at Eastern Washington University in the state of Washington.

Source: TPd Paying for College Feed

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