Read Stories Spotlighting our SJVC Students

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Student turns her natural customer service talents into a career choice

by Nyla on December 10, 2019

Carolyn Villa was tired of being treated like an annoying interruption by doctor’s office receptionists when she called to schedule appointments for her mom or one of her kids. It became a pet peeve that happened far too often for her to brush it off. “They don’t sound like they want to be working and …

Posted in Delano / Medical Office / Student Spotlights

Student refreshes her job skills and self-confidence in SJVC’s Business Office Administration program

by Nyla on December 4, 2019

Three years ago, Magdalena Carrasco thought she was ready to start a career in business. She had earned an Associate’s degree in Accounting and was looking forward to contributing financially to the life she and her husband, Norwin, planned to provide for themselves and their young son, Keith. When they found out Magdalena was expecting …

Posted in Business Administration / Delano / Student Spotlights

Student challenges himself to stretch from insecurity to self-confidence

by Nyla on December 2, 2019

At eighteen years old Dominic Jordan Salon was at a crossroad in his life. His vision of who and what he wanted to be was in direct conflict with his reality. He had always imagined a life in the medical field, and he was equally drawn to the military. But the life he was living …

Posted in Delano / Medical Assisting / Student Spotlights

Visalia Dental Assisting student Jared Ray with wife

Student in Visalia Dental Assisting program excels while juggling three jobs

by Nyla on October 29, 2018

Jared Ray is committed to his education and family. Not only is he balancing the responsibilities of being a husband and father with the demands of being a student in SJVC Visalia’s Dental Assisting program; he works not one, but three jobs while he trains to become a dental assistant. “I’m the kind of person …

Posted in Dental Assisting / Student Spotlights / Visalia

LVN to RN student Amber Rose Smith and her two sons

LVN to RN student praises program for getting her ready for ER’s red zone

by Nyla on October 8, 2018

Amber Rose Smith may look like a vision of calm on the outside, but she is quietly juggling a life that demands her full attention at all times. She runs at a pace set by her determination to succeed in her Licensed Vocational Nursing-to-Registered Nurse program on the Visalia campus while she works part-time as a …

Posted in Registered Nursing / Student Spotlights / Visalia

Modesto Medical Assisting student Jerold Maghoney

Medical Assisting student rises from the ashes of addiction

by Nyla on September 17, 2018

Jerold Maghoney discovered that rock bottom provides a hard surface from which you can push off toward higher ground. His slide to Ground Zero began with his first sip of beer at age 12 on a fishing trip with his dad, and it picked up momentum when he had his last sober birthday party at …

Posted in Medical Assisting / Modesto / Student Spotlights

Temecula Corrections student Madison Olson with Officer Jen

Life-threatening injury sparks interest in Corrections career

by Nyla on September 10, 2018

Madison Olson spent her 16th birthday in a coma. It wasn’t the Sweet Sixteen party so many teen girls dream about. In fact, there was no celebration at all – except that quiet, heartfelt one her family felt that she was alive. Even after waking from her coma a month later, Madison was on a …

Posted in Criminal Justice: Corrections / Student Spotlights / Temecula

Student Spotlights