EC woman, 65, gets diploma
EL CENTRO – With an already impressive number of accomplishments to her name, 65-year-old El Centro resident Estella Olivares recently added a diploma from Imperial Pathways Charter School to that list.
The diploma will complement the associate degree and certificate in alcohol and drug studies she obtained from Imperial Valley College in 2017, and will further help her job prospects, she said.
Nor is Olivares done realizing her goals for the year, and is now focused on passing an exam to become a certified alcohol drug counselor and obtaining a barber’s license.
“A lot of doors are going to open for me this year,” Olivares said.
Obtaining her diploma from Imperial Pathways, which is operated by the Imperial County Office of Education, came with its challenges, not the least of which was math.
She was initially motivated to enroll in the charter school after a prospective employer told her that, in spite of her associate degree, she would still need her high school diploma to be considered an eligible job candidate.
The daughter of migrant farmworkers who often followed crops’ harvest seasons throughout California, the frequent travel largely prevented her from being able to regularly attend school.
During her adolescence, the San Jose native had bounced around between schools in Oxnard and Mexicali, before dropping out of high school to work for an agricultural company in Oxnard where a sibling was employed as a supervisor.
It was during her time in Oxnard that she had attended, but did not complete, a high school beauty school class, where she learned that she enjoyed the work and there was an industry demand for Hispanic hairdressers, Olivares said.
When the single mother of two young children eventually relocated to El Centro in the early 1980s, Olivares promptly enrolled in a cosmetology school and soon after started working at Fantastic Sams.
In the intervening years, Olivares continued working as a self-employed cosmetologist, had another child, survived a bout with cancer, all while embracing the values and morals imparted by her parents and striving to be of service to her community.
“My parents taught me what they didn’t teach you in school,” Olivares said.
Having seen firsthand how addiction can negatively impact the lives of loved ones and community members alike, Olivares had, prior to the pandemic, made time to volunteer with fellow Christ Community Church members to regularly help feed the hungry.
She was also a constant presence at Sober Roads Inc., an addiction rehab center on Main Street where she volunteered and often led Spanish-language group sessions with individuals attending court-ordered counseling services.
“I see a lot of people who need help,” Olivares said. “I want to spread the word that it’s not that difficult.”
Today, the self-described independent and strong-willed matriarch serves as a positive example for her 10 grandchildren as they, too, navigate their way through school.
“They look up to me because I’m a big inspiration,” Olivares said.
After having been told that she would need a high school diploma to pursue employment as a counselor at a local public entity, Olivares set her mind to earning the 85 of the 135 credits she needed to graduate.
That pursuit initially started with learning how to turn on a computer. Eventually, Olivares was waking up at 5 a.m. to take online classes and working late into the day, which allowed her to complete her classes twice as fast as the average student at Imperial Pathways Charter, ICOE reported.
In recognition of this year’s graduates, ICOE held a series of drivethrough graduation ceremonies in early June. Though Olivares’ immediate family knew she was in the process of obtaining her diploma, she omitted telling them she was going to take part in such a ceremony.
“It came as a surprise for them and a lot of people who know me,” she said.
While pursuing her diploma, Olivares was also attending a local barber school in the hopes of finishing the required service hours needed to obtain her barber’s license.
She has also renewed her past aborted attempt to take the exam needed to become a Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor.
“People should know that it’s never too late,” Olivares said. “If we want it, anything is possible.