The student body of Palo Alto is a diverse community, with students from many age groups. In the classroom, the ages of the students range from straight out of high school to a grandparent.

Chris Ruiz, a 19-year-old sophomore, wants the most out of his educational experience. He is a Criminal Justice major who hopes to become a detective. Coming from St. Anthony’s Catholic High School, a private institution, he notices the age differences in his classes.

“In high school, the student body was teenagers. The only older folks were the teachers or administration,” said Ruiz. He is in two classes where there are a few students who are in their 30s.

One of these thirty-something students is Stacey Fuentes, a 30-year-old married, soon-to-be-mother, who has come back to Palo Alto with hopes of finally finishing her associate’s and moving onward to a bachelor’s degree in Business Management.“

I started coming to Palo Alto in 1997. Back then, everything was so much easier for me,” said Fuentes. “I came for about two years, then I was offered a job that paid good money. I went for the money and never looked back.

The money was great. I didn’t have a worry in the world, and then after about three years of working there, they started laying people off. The first to go were the employees without a college degree.”

Fuentes realized that she needed to get back to school as soon as possible. By this time, she was married and had bills to pay. She wanted to go back to school, but finding the time and help to go back was the ultimate struggle. Eventually she made it back to Palo Alto.

“If I could do everything all over again, I would have stayed in school from the get go,” she said.

Chris Ruiz has been in college almost two years now, and he can’t wait to move on to a 4-year university.

“Texas State is looking pretty tempting these days. They have a good Criminal Justice program there and a good party program, as well. I have it pretty made right now. I have a part-time job that isn’t too demanding, and I can come to school as a full-time student. Being a full-time student helps me to get done with college faster.”

On the other hand, Fuentes, who has been coming to Palo Alto on and off for the last nine years, isn’t in as much of a hurry as Ruiz.

“Someday I hope to open up my own business. I learned the hard way that if you put school off, it only pushes your dreams further and further away,” she said.

Felix Maldonado is a 20-year-old sophomore who also has older students in one of his classes.

“You can definitely see that the older students who have put school on hold for other things like family or jobs really seem to be more determined and focused. Partying seems like a thing of the past for these older students, and priorities seem different for each type of student,” said Maldonado.

Fuentes hopes to finish within the next semester or two after attending PAC on and off for nine years. Ruiz hopes to also be done within the next semester or two after attending PAC for the last two years consistently. Ruiz and Fuentes both have their own personal goals that become shared goals when they associate with students from out of their own age groups.

“It helps to talk with older students who have been around a little longer. If you talk to them, they really seem to have good advice and not just a lot of, ‘been there, done that’ talk,” said Ruiz.

The PASSkey Center at Palo Alto is designed to help students stay in school, graduate and transfer to a 4-year university. Its services help those students straight out of high school as well as those students who are grandparents. Academic and career counseling, tutoring, workshops and seminars all provide for the students. Students may apply to participate in the PASSkey Office, Palomino Center, Room 115, or download an application: http://www.accd.edu/PAC/passkey/index.htm

Students must be a first-generation college student, or be from a low-income family, or have a certifiable ADA disability to be eligible for PASSkey.