Ed program helps reach migrant workers

MOSES LAKE — Irick Santos is 47 years old and has worked as a migrant farm worker in apple orchards since 1981.

He worked his way up to a foreman, operating farm equipment and is now an irrigator.

Work days of 12 or more hours are all too frequent for this father of four children who makes $10 an hour.

As Santos' children get older, their needs increase and money is stretched thinner.

Like Santos, Jose Hernandez who turned 51 last year, has been an orchard worker since 1982 and is accustomed to long hours and the struggles of supporting his family of seven.

In 2001, Hernandez stopped working in the orchards. He felt stressed out and noticed increasing hair loss, factors he said were work-related from being exposed to chemicals at the orchards.

Both Santos and Hernandez are now working to leave their lives in the fields behind them by enrolling in the Commercial Driver License program both men are taking at Big Bend Community College.

Both said they had considered such training in the past as a way to improve their chances of getting better jobs.

It was never made a priority, supporting family came first, Hernandez said.

Santos was scared of taking on what he called the unknown of being a student and the academic responsibilities that would come with the decision to enroll in a class.

Santos and Hernandez are expected to complete BBCC's CDL program this month.

The experiences of both men are a reality for many other migrant farm worker families who are on wait lists to get into BBCC's CDL course.

The course is taught using the Integrated Basic Education Skills Training approach.

IBEST is a method which integrates vocational and language skills training to reach low income and migrant student populations. It was first instituted at BBCC in the winter of 2004.

This winter BBCC began IBEST in the farm worker welding program as well.

IBEST is a pilot program BBCC became involved with through a grant with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

Students enrolled in the 11-week program undergo both intense English language learning and commercial truck driver training on evenings and weekends. The program is co-taught, with one teacher overseeing the language component and the other driving instruction.

Considering the large number of minority students in the college's service district, many of whom are low income but not receiving government assistance and not enrolled in higher education programs, has led BBCC administrators such as Sandy Cheek to ask one question: "What's happening with them?" she said.

Cheek is the director of basic skills at BBCC and has found that language barriers, obligations of seasonal work and family responsibilities are all factors in explaining why migrant workers are not accessing higher education programs.

Those are barriers the IBEST method is intended to break down.

BBCC has been working with agencies in Moses Lake to coordinate child care, transportation and other basic needs to encourage migrant farm workers and their families to enroll.

The Opportunities Industrialization Center in Moses Lake is one such agency and focuses on farm worker retraining.

OIC regional manager Jody Bortz said because the IBEST program is a government funded program it costs $50 to put students through the program, a cost that would increase to well over $1,000 if students were to enroll in a CDL program on their own.

The program boasts a 93 percent retention rate at BBCC and in January was one of 10 college programs in the nation included in the the 2006 Community College Futures Assembly in Florida, indicators the IBEST approach is of interest to many.

Many of the students have worked in agriculture and are already familiar with the commercial driving trucks that haul food products.

"They say when they started 'I was behind the truck and I knew I wanted to be in front of the truck, and in fact I wanted to be driving the truck,'" Cheek said.

As one member of a family takes up their education and career goals, Cheek said that motivation spreads to other members of the family including children.

Hernandez has a son studying at BBCC to be a mechanic and two of Santos children are already studying computer science at BBCC.

"Part of that motivated me to go to college," Santos said.