Success & Service: Learning Quest presents 60 GEDs and other literacy honors

Sixty adults received their GED certificates through Learning Quest – Stanislaus Literacy Center at a recent event at Crosspoint Community Church in Modesto, where volunteers, students and staff also were recognized.

The honorees: Denise Nordell, tutor of the year for literacy; Barbara Arney, tutor of the year for high school equivalency; Mary Mendez, best effort in literacy; Laura Rodriguez, most improved in literacy; Joan Jia, greatest achievement in literacy; Pamela Roberson, best effort in high school equivalency preparation; Isela Cardentas, most improved in high school equivalency preparation; and Laura Soto, greatest achievement in high school equivalency preparation.

Learning Quest is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide education to adults for a better tomorrow. Free or low-cost instruction in reading, writing, math and English is provided by a combination of staff and more than 250 volunteers. Learning Quest receives funding from public and private contracts and through donations from businesses and individual donors. Nearly 1,500 Stanislaus County adults were served by its programs last year.

MJC names Purdy Award winners

Longtime athletic trainer Bobby Boswell and student equity dean Flerida Arias-Zaragoza received Modesto Junior College’s Purdy Awards for excellence in education at an event last month. The award was funded through an endowment created by the Raymond and Carolyn Purdy Estate. Boswell became head trainer in 1978 and an instructor a year later. He is heads the school’s athletic training and sports medicine program, which works with more than 500 athletes on 21 intercollegiate sports teams each year. Boswell was named head athletic trainer of the year by the National Athletic Trainers Association in 2013.

Arias-Zaragoza joined MJC’s staff more than 15 years ago and recently became the school’s first dean of student equity after serving as the director of pre-college programs for four years. She has served hundreds of at-risk, first-generation, historically underrepresented students from socio-economically challenged areas in Stanislaus County, assisting them to be successful in continuing their education.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Success & Service: Learning Quest presents 60 GEDs and other literacy honors."