For years, Veronica Valencia thought she was not college material.
“I was scared of being in a college classroom setting,” Valencia said. “I thought college would be too difficult for me.”
But earlier this month Valencia, a single mother of four boys, proved her ability to succeed as a college student.
Valencia has completed two unique off-campus classes offered by Laredo Community College in partnership with the city of Laredo.
“My classroom experience was excellent. The instructor, Sylvia Elizondo, made this a wonderful experience. It was a very informative class,” Valencia said.
An employee of the Laredo Public Library for more than a year now, Valencia was among a group of city employees who most recently completed a five-week business class offered by LCC at the library.
The city of Laredo sought to create more opportunities for its administrative and office employees by sending them back to school, Jerry Elizondo, human resources training supervisor for the city of Laredo, said.
A pilot program was launched in June at the city’s Public Works Service Center, where an LCC instructor taught a course in business English to 30 city employees.
“This experiment proved to be a great success in a short period of time,” Elizondo said.
Following the success of the initial course, the city and college worked together to offer a second course: a business correspondence and communication class at the public library that ended on Oct. 5.
“Because of the benefit to the employee, and consequently our work environment, the city is launching the same series of coursework next August with expansion planned in the future,” Elizondo said.
Elizondo said that the free, on-site college courses offered to city employees provided a rewarding opportunity to individuals who otherwise may not have the time or money to go back to school. He added that the participating employees have learned new skills and have raised the level of service to clients.
Valencia decided to take full advantage of the opportunity the city gave her in order to better herself and provide greater opportunities to her children.
Valencia was born in Laredo, but at age 7, she moved to Wyoming with her parents.
At age 15, Valencia decided to marry and drop out of high school.
“I only went to the first semester of ninth grade and quit after that,” Valencia said.
Today, Valencia is a single mother of four boys, ranging in ages from 4 to 17.
She returned to Laredo in May of 2003, and soon decided to seek an education.
“I went to a training and vocational school, which I regret doing. My advice to anyone who wants an education is to go to college (instead),” Valencia said.
Fortunately for Valencia, she found a job in May of 2004 with the city as a clerk in the public library.
While she was married, Valencia developed an interest in learning how to use computers.
As a city of Laredo employee, she has fulfilled her career goal to work with computers, and the college classes the city has provided for its employees have been helpful and educational.
“I have learned correct grammar, punctuation and capitalization, along with learning how to properly write memorandums and business letters,” Valencia said.
“I definitely recommend these classes to my co-workers, especially the business writing course, because we don’t realize all the mistakes that we can make when we write,” Valencia added.
Sylvia Elizondo, who has taught courses in the Office Systems Technology program at LCC for 27 years, said that the on-site classes are very similar to the traditional classes offered on campus.
“Laredo Community College is trying to maintain a similar class environment to that of a traditional campus class,” the college instructor said of the city classes.
“The only difference is that LCC is accommodating a flexible schedule in a centralized classroom to complement the employees’ work schedule,” Elizondo said.
Valencia said that the on-site classes have left a long-term impact in her life to acquire something she thought was unobtainable to her.
“I now know that nothing takes the place of having a college and university education, and that I can do anything that I set my mind to do,” Valencia said.
Employers from area businesses and companies who seek to provide similar educational opportunities to their employees are invited to contact the LCC Business and Management Department at 721-5870.
Veronica Valencia is among the city of Laredo employees who recently took advantage of special on-site coursework offered by Laredo Community College in collaboration with the city. Valencia, who has been employed with the Laredo Public Library for more than a year, began as a clerk but was recently promoted to library technician.
Laredo Community College instructor Sylvia Elizondo teaches a business correspondence and communication class to city of Laredo employees in a computer lab at the Laredo Public Library. The class met twice a week for eight hours during a five week period ending Oct. 5.
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