By Michael Javier and Gloria Tavera
In July 2019, Prisca Acevedo, Felix Angeles, and Douglas Santos enrolled in the Evans Community Adult School (Evans) Integrated Education and Training (IET) pre-medical assistant class. IET classes provide career technical education (CTE) training paired with instructor-driven contextualized English as a second language (ESL), reading, or math support. The students who demonstrated proficiency in the class, taught by Medical Assistant Instructor Gloria Tavera and ESL Instructor Michael Javier, earned certificates from the IET program in August 2019. Prisca, Felix, and Douglas continued along their career pathway by completing Ms. Tavera’s medical assistant program and completed an externship in which they volunteered in local clinics, practicing the skills they learned at Evans in real life.
Becoming a medical assistant is no easy feat. Prisca, Felix, and Douglas studied anatomy and biology; learned and demonstrated skills such as taking blood pressure; and earned CPR certificates from the American Heart Association. They began saving lives too, by donating blood during an Evans drive. The next pathway step of the medical assistant program is an externship in which students volunteer in local clinics, practicing the skills they learned in real life. The students began their externships in November 2019 and finished them at the start of January 2020.
Prisca, Felix, and Douglas—accompanied by their medical assistant classmates—celebrated their graduation from Evans’ medical assistant program on January 22, cheered on by district administrators, teachers, students, family, and friends. Prisca fulfilled her goal of working in the medical field, as she now works at AME Urgent Care in Lynwood. She also received an LA Unified scholarship that paid for her medical assistant program fees. Felix, now a certified clinical medical assistant (CCMA), is considering taking a job at the externship site, Century Family Medical Group in Bellflower. And CCMA Douglas Santos, who dreams of becoming a registered nurse, now works at Clinica Medica Samaritana in Los Angeles. The graduation on January 22 reunited the students with the two DACE IET teachers who inspired them to succeed on their pathways in the medical field.
Congratulations Prisca, Felix and Douglas! We are sure this is just the beginning of many great things to come for each of you.