Debra Hoptowit is on her way to becoming a medical assistant.
It’s a long way from where she was more than a year ago.
“I didn’t know what to do,” said the Enumclaw single mother, who was laid off from her longtime job. “I never had not worked.”
She followed a friend’s recommendation and enrolled in Green River Community College’s free Life Transitions Program. It gave her the hope and direction she wouldn’t have had otherwise.
“It gave me the oomph, the push to move forward,” Hoptowit said. “They told me this is what you need to do; a direction. They’re there to listen and help you.”
Transitions are a part of life, class literature notes.
The Life Transitions Program has helped more than 20,000 participants statewide each year by providing connections to college programs and support services, job readiness training, resume and interview skill-building, workshops and classes for life transitions, counseling and support services and information and referral to resources in the community such as legal, health and other support services.
In 2005-07, a third of the program’s participants entered college after class completion and nearly half entered college within a year. A quarter of program participants were employed within nine months of completing the program.
When it was started, program manager Marsha Medgard said, it was referred to as the displaced homemaker program, targeting women who stayed home with their kids and as empty nesters wanted to get into the job force. Today, it’s designed for those who have been dependent on another person’s income for a period of time and have had that taken away. Examples include those who are going through a divorce, grieving the loss of a spouse or partner, dealing with unemployment or looking for a career change. Funded by a state grant, there are some specifics students must meet, but rarely is anyone turned away.
Although the class falls under the college’s Women’s Program umbrella, it is open to men as well. Medgard said in her 10 years with Life Transitions, she recalls just one male participating and that was recently.
It is created to help students build self-confidence and decision-making skills too.
“Each person has their own transition,” Hoptowit said. She said that’s an added bonus to the program, hearing and seeing from others who are in the “same boat as you.”
Green River Community College will offer the program on its Enumclaw campus, 1414 Griffin Ave., beginning Tuesday and running through Feb. 18. Classes are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. For information on enrolling, call GRCC’s Women’s Programs office at 253-833-9111 ext. 2547.
For Hoptowit it was a class worth taking.
“I am totally grateful and thankful for every opportunity I got there,” she said. “It’s a remarkable program.”
