Aida Meza | American Career College

​Aida was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico 58 years ago. She is the second child in a family of four. She graduated from secretarial school and worked for a few years. When she went on vacation to visit her aunt in California she decided she wanted to stay.

She got a job in a warehouse, fell in love, and started a family. When she was pregnant with her second child her boyfriend abandoned her to raise her kids alone. She worked 2 to 3 jobs to make ends meet over the next few years. On her lunch hour she would go to the daycare and watch children to help subsidize the cost. The years passed by quickly and when she got laid off from a job, she decided to go to school to study accounting. She would drive from Lynwood to her kids’ school in LA to Cerritos every day.

After graduating she moved to Ontario and got a job. Every time she would get a job the companies would eventually go out of business and she would go on unemployment. One day the EDD worker advised her to get her high school diploma because every job would soon require that as a minimum requirement. She got a list of schools and chose American Career College. She enrolled in the high school program offered by the ACC Foundation and passed all but 2 parts of the HiSET test.

She enrolled in the medical billing program and after graduating got a job with a company that worked with medical air insurance. English as a second language was always a challenge, but in this case it worked to her benefit and she got the job offer and really enjoys it. She feels confident that she has the skills to keep her marketable and employed. Aida graduated with honors and perfect attendance! She says, “Many people believe certain things are impossible although I’m a graduate before you today to prove anything is possible with hard work and dedication. I struggled as a single mother all my life but this past year I also had to deal with the struggle of studying for courses for both my career and GED diploma all while being unemployed searching for jobs and still doing side work to help pay the bills. With the help of ACC and the support of the staff as well as peers, today I have my diploma, GED, and I am currently employed.”

She would like to thank her children Omar and Leslie and also the team at ACC, Amber Montez-Kelly, Diane Bowen, Noemi Roubideaux, and Carol Horn.