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Cossatot Community College |
Pilgrim’s Pride and CCCUA Celebrate Education
20 May 2004
DE QUEEN – Pilgrim’s Pride and Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas (CCCUA) Adult Education Department celebrated their partnership in education on Thursday, May 13. A total of 105 students in the GED and English As A Second Language (ESL) classes were honored.
Pilgrim’s Pride sponsors the PRIDE plan at two sites in De Queen: The Pilgrim-Cossatot Learning Center (PCLC), and the Fifth Street Learning Center. The PRIDE plan rewards employees who have attended class at least 40 hours and have increased their educational attainment by 2 levels, or for those who have obtained their GED. These employees receive a $100 cash bonus. Dianne Barger presented 32 PRIDE Plan certificates at PCLC and 15 certificates at the Fifth Street Center.
Those receiving recognition at PCLC were Hilario Acosta, Gabriel Antunez, Rosa Balderas, Fabian Banda, Ricarda Barrientos, Gloria Espinoza, Zacarias Fernandez, Maria Galindo, Patricia Gandara, Gilbert Garcia, Silvano Gomez, Antonio Gonzalez, Maurilio Gonzalez, Christina Herrera, Salvador Herrera, Moises Lopez, Gerardo Martinez, Gloria Martinez, Andres Morales, Sr., Daniel Moreno, Margarita Nunez, Emilio Orozco, Felipe Pacheco, Enrique Perez, Roberto Perez, Richard Vito Romero, Miguel Tapia, Rosa Torres, Pedro Trevino, Benjamin Valles, Rafael Velez, and Consuelo Zamudia.
At Fifth Street, the following received PRIDE Plan certificates: Julian Diaz, Emeterio Dominguez, Domingo Gonzalez, Luiz Gutierrez, Fortino Hernandez, Mayra Martinez, Alfredo Nieto, Manuel Portillo, Fernando Quintana, Yazmin Ramirez, Javier Rubio, Araceli Trejo, Larry Wilson, Isidro Zamora, and Gabriela Zapata.
Pilgrim’s sponsors a tuition reimbursement program in addition to the PRIDE Plan. After an employee has worked at Pilgrim’s for one year and has earned a high school diploma or a GED, he or she may apply to Pilgrim’s to have all of their college costs paid for at CCCUA. Pilgrim’s believes that an educated employee not only is a better employee, but a better citizen.
The two centers honored all their students with parties provided by the Adult Education Department of CCCUA. Certificates were presented, and pictures were taken for the scrapbooks and bulletin boards. Music and dancing rounded out the celebrations.
PCLC and the Fifth Street Learning Center are open to the public, not just employees of Pilgrim’s Pride. GED and ESL classes are available free of charge at either the Pilgrim-Cossatot Learning Center (phone Ann Ritter at 642-6750) or the Fifth Street Learning Center (phone Laurie Kirkpatrick at 642-8804). GED classes are also available in the Adult Education Department at CCCUA, 584-4471.
Cossatot Community College offers both technical certification and Associate’s degrees in a wide range of fields on its campus at De Queen, at extension sites at Nashville and Ashdown, and at cccua.edu. It has an enrollment of more than 1,100 students, and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
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