CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC)
Agency Location:
25 Broadway NYC, NY 10004
Agency Description:
The BMCC ALE program provides ESOL and ABE instruction to students in Lower Manhattan and on the Lower East Side. Our intensive classes run day and evening. We run four cycles a year with intakes in July, November, February and May.
Agency Highlight:
Berny began in a BMCC ALE funded class in 2014. He moved from ESOL to Bridge to HSE. He took the TASC during FY’17 and passed. He then applied for college at BMCC. In summer 2017 he applied for a WithinReach college scholarship, which he received.
Berny began his scholarship application essay with the words, “life is a challenge.” Berny was born in Guatemala, but had to stop attending school when he was 10 years old when his parents died. He was taken in by his uncle in a small rural village, but his family didn’t have the resources to continue sending him to school. Berny spent the next 7 years working on a farm growing corn and sesame. He missed school and his classmates, but had no choice but to work in the fields to help support his family.
At 17, Berny had the opportunity to move to the U.S. with the help of his older brother. Soon after he started working as a dishwasher and at a carwash in Queens. He felt “lost” without any English. He needed to help support his two younger brothers in Guatemala, but also knew he needed to “move forward” and focus on his education. He decided to enroll in ESOL classes. He worked diligently on his studies, and, over a period of three years, moved from ESOL to Bridge, and eventually to HSE. He felt that “new horizons started opening to me; every time that I learned something new, I became more and more interested in deepening what I was learning. A new world was opening to me.”
Berny started college at BMCC in the fall of 2017. He has now successfully completed his first semester as a full-time student – while continuing to work full time. He received 12 credits.
Life certainly has been a challenge for him. But he has risen to the challenge and persevered. As a student who had successfully finished our program and gone on to college, Berny was our choice to speak to new students at a recent orientation. Berny spoke movingly about the importance of persistence and not giving up. He said that he was often awake at 3 am doing homework and reading. He explained how the first time he took his TASC he didn’t pass but didn’t let it discourage him – how he remained in class and continued studying until he was able to successfully pass all the sections. Many of the incoming students were inspired by Berny’s story of success in the face of hardship. Berny is now about to begin his second semester in college. He looks forward to a degree in business administration, and he wants to apply what he is learning about financial management and administration to a career as an entrepreneur. He hopes to “someday” be a role model to his younger brothers and to other young people experiencing life as he did in his native country and elsewhere. We think he has already become that role model. Berny’s success is one of many in adult education programs throughout the city and state. At BMCC, Bernie attended evening ALE classes from 6-9 pm three days a week, and with various ESOL, Bridge, and HSE teachers. In his last HSE class with us, he was taught by Mark Lance and Nancy Niles. We continue to support the many Bernies in our program. We provide instruction from low level ESOL to HSE and support students on their path towards post-secondary education and careers. It is critical to support learners at different levels recognizing that the path to success can be rough and strewn with obstacles. For students like Berny, who may need more time to attain their goals, the ALE program is a vital component of the mission of adult education.
Registration Information:
For more information please call 212-346-8890.
Click here to visit the CUNY BMCC Website!
Click Here to Read More Agency Highlights
25 Broadway NYC, NY 10004
Agency Description:
The BMCC ALE program provides ESOL and ABE instruction to students in Lower Manhattan and on the Lower East Side. Our intensive classes run day and evening. We run four cycles a year with intakes in July, November, February and May.
Agency Highlight:
Berny began in a BMCC ALE funded class in 2014. He moved from ESOL to Bridge to HSE. He took the TASC during FY’17 and passed. He then applied for college at BMCC. In summer 2017 he applied for a WithinReach college scholarship, which he received.
Berny began his scholarship application essay with the words, “life is a challenge.” Berny was born in Guatemala, but had to stop attending school when he was 10 years old when his parents died. He was taken in by his uncle in a small rural village, but his family didn’t have the resources to continue sending him to school. Berny spent the next 7 years working on a farm growing corn and sesame. He missed school and his classmates, but had no choice but to work in the fields to help support his family.
At 17, Berny had the opportunity to move to the U.S. with the help of his older brother. Soon after he started working as a dishwasher and at a carwash in Queens. He felt “lost” without any English. He needed to help support his two younger brothers in Guatemala, but also knew he needed to “move forward” and focus on his education. He decided to enroll in ESOL classes. He worked diligently on his studies, and, over a period of three years, moved from ESOL to Bridge, and eventually to HSE. He felt that “new horizons started opening to me; every time that I learned something new, I became more and more interested in deepening what I was learning. A new world was opening to me.”
Berny started college at BMCC in the fall of 2017. He has now successfully completed his first semester as a full-time student – while continuing to work full time. He received 12 credits.
Life certainly has been a challenge for him. But he has risen to the challenge and persevered. As a student who had successfully finished our program and gone on to college, Berny was our choice to speak to new students at a recent orientation. Berny spoke movingly about the importance of persistence and not giving up. He said that he was often awake at 3 am doing homework and reading. He explained how the first time he took his TASC he didn’t pass but didn’t let it discourage him – how he remained in class and continued studying until he was able to successfully pass all the sections. Many of the incoming students were inspired by Berny’s story of success in the face of hardship. Berny is now about to begin his second semester in college. He looks forward to a degree in business administration, and he wants to apply what he is learning about financial management and administration to a career as an entrepreneur. He hopes to “someday” be a role model to his younger brothers and to other young people experiencing life as he did in his native country and elsewhere. We think he has already become that role model. Berny’s success is one of many in adult education programs throughout the city and state. At BMCC, Bernie attended evening ALE classes from 6-9 pm three days a week, and with various ESOL, Bridge, and HSE teachers. In his last HSE class with us, he was taught by Mark Lance and Nancy Niles. We continue to support the many Bernies in our program. We provide instruction from low level ESOL to HSE and support students on their path towards post-secondary education and careers. It is critical to support learners at different levels recognizing that the path to success can be rough and strewn with obstacles. For students like Berny, who may need more time to attain their goals, the ALE program is a vital component of the mission of adult education.
Registration Information:
For more information please call 212-346-8890.
Click here to visit the CUNY BMCC Website!
Click Here to Read More Agency Highlights
