By Lisa M
For twelve years I worked in a factory. Then one day they came and told us that it was closing its doors and moving to Mexico. That was the day that my whole life changed. When it closed we were given the opportunity to go back to school if we wanted to. A lot of people decided to further their education and some of them decided to get out and look for a job. We started up here at CAP in February. When I started I was thinking that it has been sixteen years since I have been in school and, "am I going to be able to do this?" Let me tell you that you don’t realize how much you have forgotten until you start doing math, English, etc. I realized that for my self that I had forgotten a lot and that I was behind. But now I am where I need to be thanks to the hard working teachers here.I was planning to go on to college but for financial reasons I just decided to take an office essentials course. Coming up here to school is nothing compared to working in a factory. When you work in a factory, you go in and do the same thing day in and day out. It’s the same old routine nothing ever changes. You work hard for your money, so the harder you worked the more money you made. But when you are going to school you can do different things like math, computers, English, etc. It is so much more laid back and you sort of do your own thing. While we are going back to school we are able to draw what they call TRA benefits. This is for people also called “dislocated workers” that were working for someone and they decided to move their company overseas. You do not get paid what you were being paid from the place that you worked, far from it. But at least you do have some form of income. I always thought that I would be in that factory forever, but life can change in an instant. This time for the better. I really like coming up here and learning something new everyday. You never know what you are going to do. I like it that way. Hopefully I won’t have to work in another factory again. I’m hoping that coming up here to CAP and then going on to Office Essentials Skills, that I will find a better job that has better pay and benefits, and that I won't have to work so hard (physically) in the process. Wish me luck.
