Jesus Finds Long-Term Career Success through Wellspring’s ESOL Program
People from all walks of life and backgrounds come to Wellspring to advance their education goals and pursue learning opportunities that will lead to new careers, financial security and more positive futures. Jesus is one of these persistent and dedicated individuals.
Having already completed two years of college in his native Paraguay, Jesus opted to emigrate to the United States to join his father in Massachusetts and complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering. Although Jesus spoke three languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and his native Guarani, he knew he needed to master his English-speaking skills to communicate effectively and meet his goal of becoming an engineer.
He didn’t want to rely on anyone to translate English for him, and rather understood that he needed to speak, read and write English to improve his opportunities and achieve success.
“When I First came here, I couldn’t communicate with anyone. That was very challenging to me,” Jesus said.
Because of this, Jesus was hesitant to inquire about jobs or submit applications. Realizing learning English was the next stop on his path to career success, he heeded his parents’ advice and invested in himself.
“I knew that if I learned English, I could have better opportunities.”
A resident in his father’s home in Gloucester, Jesus enrolled in the (then) volunteer-based Wellspring English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program. Part of Wellspring’s Adult Learning Initiative (ALI) at the Sawyer Library, Jesus was matched with his tutor (and former Wellspring board member) Gonzalo Verdugo. Their partnership resulted in tremendous personal growth for Jesus, who attributes his success speaking English to Wellspring’s ESOL courses and his ongoing work with Gonzalo.
Over the last six years, Jesus and Gonzalo have built a wonderful friendship through deep trust and a strategic mentoring approach that goes far beyond the walls of a classroom. Since 2017, Gonzalo has not only helped Jesus strengthen his English vocabulary, but helped Jesus challenge and grow his learning in deeper areas like college applications, essay writing and resume-building.
With assistance from Gonzalo, Jesus created a stand-out resume highlighting his education background and engineering experience for an Assembler position at Wellspring partner and well-known technology and engineering company Applied Materials. Thanks to Jesus’s perseverance, he not only was offered the job, he has since been promoted to a Lead Assembler position!
Today, Jesus is financially secure and is actively growing his skills to become a mechanic. In addition, Jesus is still working with Gonzalo to keep his English strong, and is actively paired up with Wellspring’s Adult Education team to transfer his education credits to North Shore Community College, where he hopes to complete his core coursework and move on to Salem State University’s Engineering Program.
Jesus’ impressive accomplishments and continued career growth would not be possible without the generosity of our friends from the Cummings Foundation and Applied Materials. Without their ongoing support and partnership, Wellspring would not be able to continue this life-changing work!