A Rio Salado ABE Success Story February 07

 When Olga Lucia Bocanegra started taking ELAA classes at the Scottsdale Adult Learning Center (SALC), she found a way to educate herself and achieve her dream of attending the university. Through sheer will and hard work, Olga Lucia is now enrolled in an MA program studying Linguistics and Spanish at ASU. Her success in the program has already been recognized by her department. She became a graduate teaching assistant with a teaching load of two full classes of undergraduate students. With a BA in International Business and Communications along with a Certificate of Spanish-English Translation (which she picked up while taking overloads every semester) from ASU and an AA from Scottsdale Community College (SCC), Olga Lucia shows the way for many other immigrant students who are eager and motivated  to achieve personal and professional goals.

 Olga Lucia is thankful for all the guidance and preparation she received from her dedicated teachers at SALC.  They helped her build the confidence she lacked in using English for her daily life and for the rigors of post-secondary education at SCC and at ASU. Olga Lucia does not forget how she got to ASU. After she left SALC, she maintained her ties with the center volunteering her time and energy in the office as a way of giving something back to the center that helped her so much. After starting as a volunteer receptionist, she soon became an ELAA instructor there.   

Olga Lucia says, “There are so many opportunities to study for students who are willing to work hard, but you have to earn them.”  

 The teachers that worked with Olga Lucia say that she is an inspiration to them and a great role model for other students to follow.  With all the accomplishments already to her name, there is one more to add. Olga Lucia became a proud U.S. citizen on March 11, 2005.  This is a student we can all be proud of.

 Submitted by Tom Kowalczyk