Areli was three semesters away from finishing her Civil Engineering program when she contacted GST Michigan Works! in Lapeer. She met more than one of the barriers in Local Defined Barriers to employment. She is a minority group with more than $5,000.00 in student loans, her education was less than an associate degree, and a first-generation student.

Her parents immigrated to this country with the hope of having a better future and a family. They did not have the opportunity to go to school in México; the highest level of education they had was 6th grade. When they moved to the USA, the only occupations they could perform were in the construction and agriculture industries which earned them minimum wages.

Areli was born and is the oldest of three daughters. Her parents always worked hard to provide for their children the best they could. As soon as Areli started school, she became fascinated with numbers and Math was her strongest subject.

As time passed Areli always tried to help her parents. She looked for a part-time job so she could help her family and save some money to one day attend college.

Areli always had the dream of going to college and learning to build bridges. Upon finishing high school, her dream started to come true when she was notified that she had been accepted through Michigan State University in the Civil Engineering program.

She always knew that the Civil Engineering program was one that would require a lot of studying and dedication. In addition to that, the cost of the program was an extra challenge that she had to face, but she looked for a way to work and pay for part of her studies.
As soon as she could, she focused on finishing her internships at companies where she could gain skills and earn a salary. One of them was with the Department of Transportation starting in 2017. Her goal was to get into the Engineering Development program.

She was fulfilling her goal of working and studying at the same time while being independent of her parents, but unfortunately, her dreams collapsed when the pandemic arrived in 2019. Her hours of work were drastically reduced, and it seemed that this would complicate all her plans.

Fortunately, her mother was on layoff for the winter season and was selected by UIA to attend the RESEA orientation where she was given information about GSTMW WIOA program. In turn, she passed this information to Areli who didn’t hesitate to contact the Lapeer Service Center.

GST Michigan Works! was unable to assist her with tuition as her program is not ITA, but they were able to provide financial relief by covering her mileage, books, work uniforms, and laptop. She is infinitely grateful, for GST MI Works! assistance, so that she could start to save her wages and be able to pay for her tuition once again.

At the end of her program, Areli's dream was fulfilled when the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) offered her a formal position as an Engineering Development Programmer. She will always thank her parents for all their support, who never doubted that she would accomplish her goal. Now she wants to be an inspiration to her two sisters and continue to make her parents proud of her.

She stated that, “I will help Michigan ensure the welfare of our people through the bettering of our infrastructure.”

Areli, was a great participant who met all the requirements of our program, maintained constant communication, kept us up to date on academic performance, and provided us with employment information as soon as she was hired. Her Program is a Non-Traditional Program. GST Michigan Works! is be proud to help members of the Hispanic community utilize this program which was created to provide opportunities for success through our Job Seeker’s natural talents!