PASS Program Helps Worthington Parent Motivate Her Children to Succeed
Parent graduates of the PASS program. Hurtado is in the front row on the left.
Martha Hurtado wasn’t surprised when her 11-year-old daughter announced that she wanted to quit school to work at McDonald’s. But the mother of four had recently learned how to tell her children about the financial demands adults face, and how an education can lead to a better-paying job and a better life.
Not only did Hurtado’s daughter change her mind, she began thinking more about her future. “My daughter, who before wanted to work at McDonald’s now tells me, ‘Mom, I want to be an accountant. I want to be a doctor.’ I now see the difference in her feelings.”
The topic came up during a nine-week program called Parents Advocating for Students’ Success (PASS), which taught Hurtado to understand the educational system and its resources, and to motivate her children to study and develop career aspirations.
Before she participated in the program offered by the Worthington school district, trying to help her children with their homework gave Hurtado headaches. The school system differed from that in her native Mexico and communicating in English was challenging for the recent immigrant. “As I continued helping them with all of this, it was very difficult and the classes helped me a lot.”
Since its introduction over two years ago, 282 Worthington-area parents have graduated from PASS, which uses a curriculum from the California-based Parent Institute for Quality Education. Classes are offered in English, Spanish and Lao in a school district where over half the students are minorities and many are immigrants. PASS receives funding from the school district and grants; most of the participants are Latinos.
PASS participants learn through discussion and exercises about the school system and resources, creating a learning environment at home and even advancing their own education, said Roselia Vazquez, a school district parent liaison and PASS instructor.
Hurtado wanted not only to encourage her children, but also motivate them through her own personal experience, Vazquez said. PASS gave her the initiative to pursue her GED, which she earned in December. Hurtado is now studying English and taking a college course.
As Hurtado encourages her children through her support and example, they’re also motivating her. “They’ve seen what I’m doing and they ask me, ‘Mom, are you doing homework?’ … I tell them, children, I’m doing this partly to reach my own goal and partly because I want to motivate you.”
PASS shows that inspiring kids means getting involved. Parents trying to understand their children don’t often take parenting classes, Hurtado said, and sometimes they can miss out. “The classes helped me to understand my kids a little better, to live together with them and to motivate them.”
