CVACE helps students build their own path to success
Edel Lopez-Cruz’s journey to academic success is a story of perseverance, determination and the transformative power of education. Graduating with his GED from Castro Valley Adult Career and Education (CVACE) in Spring 2023, Lopez-Cruz overcame various challenges to achieve his educational goal, utilizing the specialized counseling services offered by the school along the way.
Earning his GED had been a long-time goal for Lopez-Cruz. Before enrolling at CVACE, he had looked into several other local programs, but found them too expensive. While researching his options, he found CVACE’s positive reviews and reached out to them to learn more. He found the process easy to navigate and the staff was quick to respond to his questions.
“I was able to get into Castro Valley and I had a great experience there,” said Lopez-Cruz. “There was a lot of opportunities that were offered to me. While I was in Castro Valley, I got a few job opportunities and one of those was for Google. I was not hired at Google, but I ended up being hired as a supervisor with a construction company.”
“I was able to get into Castro Valley and I had a great experience there.”
Edel Lopez-Cruz, CVACE GED Graduate
Arriving in the United States in 2006 at the age of 15, Lopez-Cruz’s educational opportunities were limited. Having only finished middle school courses, he was determined to build a better future for himself through education. Lopez-Cruz enrolled at CVACE in 2021 to pursue a GED and said this was the springboard to help obtain better work opportunities that he received while in school.
Lopez-Cruz emphasized the pivotal role of CVACE’s counseling services played in his academic journey and credits this help as a key factor to completing his courses.
“I would advise anyone in a similar situation as mine to go to Castro Valley because they are an amazing group,” he said. “They helped me a lot mentally and emotionally. I didn’t take advantage of the counseling services until I was in the middle of the program and if I had to do it again, I would not hesitate to enroll and would have started taking advantage of the those services sooner.”
Lopez-Cruz plans to continue his education with CVACE to improve and expand his English grammar. He says that he still has a lot to learn, but enrolling at CVACE was a great beginning and motivation to continue his education goals.
To learn more about about the education offerings, job training opportunities and other benefits of enrolling at CVACE, visit cvadult.org.
Written by Whip Villarreal
