Sept. 12, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Alec Alvarado doesn’t remember exactly where he heard about GRCC’s TRIO Educational Opportunities Center. He thinks he saw an ad on Facebook. But he knows with 100 percent certainty what TRIO has done for him and his future.
“It’s changed my life,” he said.
TRIO is a set of federally funded programs that support first-generation, low-income students throughout their college experience.
The Educational Opportunities Center connects people with programs and services that help with high school diploma or GED certificate completion, tutoring and mentoring, career exploration, financial assistance and completing college admissions and enrollment processes. The work covers a region of 13 counties.
GRCC was awarded a five-year, $1.16 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create the center, where unemployed or low-wage workers, prospective first-generation college students, and other adult learners can work with campus specialists to explore higher education options and connect with on- and off-campus resources and programs to support their educational goals.
Alvarado can attest to that.
“After I saw that ad, I called them,” he said. “They literally walked me through the whole thing. I told them I was a bit intimidated about how to apply, what to expect. But they made it so easy.”
He noted, too, that GRCC got him reconnected to his tribe -- he’s part of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians -- and that because of his heritage, he pays no tuition thanks to Michigan’s Indian Tuition waiver.
Alvarado is now approaching the finish line of the Construction Electrician Certificate program, which prepares graduates for placement in an Electrical Apprenticeship program. Once hired and registered as an Apprentice Electrician, students may request to have their certificate articulated into credit that applies to their state-required training.
The course runs for 18 weeks, with students in class from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Alvarado loves it.
“I really like working with my hands, and I really like being active,” he said. “I’m learning a lot, and the time just flies by.”
He’s also making his two kids proud, he said, especially his 6-year-old son.
“To have my kids be proud of me means a lot,” he said. “My son, he was really happy when he realized I go to school like he does. He sees me put on my backpack. It’s pretty great.”
Like a lot of students, Alvarado thought college was what he was supposed to do right after high school.
So, when he graduated from Northview in 2017, he applied and was accepted to GRCC, and that fall, five years ago now, he started taking classes on the downtown campus.
“I wasn’t ready,” he recalled recently. “I felt like I wasted my time. I had no idea what I wanted to do, really. I decided to go work for an automotive factory. I had a young son, and I needed to take care of him, too.”
The money was decent, but something was missing.
“I was figuring it out as I went along,” Alvarado said. “But I also wondered if there was more.”
Alvarado had heard about electricians and the electrical field as a high school student but didn’t know a lot about the profession. Now, he said, the sky is the limit.
“Before this (program at GRCC), I didn’t know this kind of stuff or if I was going to be any good at it,” he said. “And I fell in love with it. Now this is what I feel like I’m going to do for the rest of my career. I give a lot of credit to the TRIO program for helping me see a future I’m excited about.”
Additional information about the TRIO Educational Opportunity Center is available by email at eoc@grcc.edu, by phone at (616) 234-3399 and on the web here.
This story was reported by Phil de Haan.