NWACC employee named state’s outstanding paraprofessional
Posted on Sunday, November 5, 2006
BENTONVILLE — Northwest Arkansas Community College employee Martha Cortes was named Outstanding Paraprofessional for 2006 at a conference of the Arkansas Association for Continuing and Adult Education.
Cortes is an Adult Education secretary and an NWACC student who frequently speaks on behalf of the college about the career benefits of learning English.
“ I was shocked, ” she said of the award. “ I didn’t suspect a thing. It is a really nice honor. ”
NWACC Adult Education Department Director Ben Aldama received the award Oct. 27 for Cortes who was not able to attend the conference last week.
She was honored by NWACC Adult Education staff and students at a reception in the Adult Education Center on Monday.
“ This gives me one more reason to keep going down the path I’m on, ” Cortes said. “ I know I’m on the right track. ”
Cortes, a non-traditional student, attends NWACC classes on a part-time basis. She’s enrolled in College Algebra with Marjorie Whitmore and American History with Sydnee Moyers this fall.
Cortes said her husband and three children celebrated the honor Monday night.
“ I took the plaque home Monday night and showed them, ” she said. “ My children and husband were very proud. ”
Cortes has two girls and boy. Her husband is Fabian. Their children are ages 12, 10 and 4.
Cortes spoke no English and had no friends when she arrived in Rogers.
Cortes, 33, came to Arkansas from Durango, Mexico, following her husband. When they got married in Mexico, he already had a job in Rogers.
She came north with him “ because there are not many opportunities for employment in Mexico and I needed something different. ” That was 13 years ago.
The “ something different” Cortes needed was enrolling in an English-as-a-secondlanguage class at NWACC.
“ I started evening classes at the NWACC Adult Education Center at the beginning level, and then with my practice and good attendance I moved to upper levels, ” she told the Arkansas Times, which profiled her in a cover story this past summer.
At the same time, she was on a list of immigrants waiting for work permits so that they could work legally. She had to wait five years for a permit.
Then she was hired at the first place she applied for a job, the Rogers School District.
“ I worked there for three years, but working as a janitor just encouraged me to keep working on my English skills. ” Today, she speaks English well.
When the chance to work part-time at the NWACC Adult Education Center came along, she jumped at it. The new job increased her work skills and her self-esteem.
She hopes to earn an associate’s degree in art and then transfer to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for a bachelor’s degree in social work. After that, she says, she’ll “ probably work in the schools. ”
Cortes was a student speaker in July at an announcement that the college was beginning its first capital campaign in the school’s 17-year-history. The college hopes to raise $ 16 million in the next year and kicked off the campaign with a $ 4 million contribution from Wal-Mart.
This is the second consecutive year that NWACC has received one of the state’s top awards. Linda Harris was named the Outstanding GED Teacher for 2005.
Five NWACC staff members made presentations at the convention, titled “ Navigating Adult Learning. ”
• Lynn Stanberry presented “ All Aboard for GED Orientation, ” providing an overview of why the program instituted a group orientation and gave problems-successes of orientation.
• Vickie Johnson and Jackie Mitchell presented “ All Ashore for an ESL Roundtable Discussion, ” providing Arkansas ESL instructors a chance share best practices.
• Danny Sheffield and Kathy Schneider presented “ Full Steam Ahead to Citizenship, ” sharing successful strategies that lead students to citizenship.
Aldama was re-elected to the position of AACAE Treasurer for the upcoming year.
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