Josefina Castaneda Martinez had been working at Kaiser Permanente in housekeeping for 11 years, eventually becoming a support services representative for another 8 years. After so many years, she wanted something more and knew if she wanted to delve deeper into the medical world, she would need her diploma.
Josefina found LearningQuest in November of 2022. While attending English HSE classes online 2 nights a week, she was simultaneously studying in a CNA program. But she didn’t stop there. It wasn’t enough to take her tests in Spanish; Josefina began studying and receiving tutoring in English. If that wasn’t a challenge in it of itself for her, she tirelessly worked long hours throughout the week: sometimes as long as a 16-hour shift before attending classes online. To find time for extra studying, she would book online tutoring sessions with LQ instructors during her lunch break. Throughout all of this, she maintained a great attitude; she often joked with her instructors, laughed about her mistakes, and asked questions that many other students were afraid to ask. After a year and three months, Josefina had conquered it all. She passed all 5 of the exams in February of 2024 and officially was a LearningQuest graduate.
To make things more exciting, she completed her CNA program at the same time! Ready to tackle her next challenge, she has joined yet another program, this time in medical coding. This was done to continue her education further and prove to her managers she was worthy of a promotion.
Josefina has been a strong example to her children of the importance of education. Her youngest son is finishing high school while her daughter has decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps in the medical field at Modesto Junior College.
Josefina has proved that hard work and tenacity is what will get you where you want to go, and no amount of pressure will stray you from your course. She is a huge testament of what all our resources at LearningQuest can help students accomplish and what an inspiration she continues to be to many.