EDITOR'S NOTE. The following feature is the latest installment in a series of occasional entries about individuals who have improved their lives by attending Sanford Community Adult Education at the Anderson Learning Center in Springvale.




SPRINGVALE — Anyone would have forgiven Sandy Hilton if she'd felt sorry for herself four years ago. The Vishay Sprague plant in Sanford was shutting the last of its departments, putting her out of work for the first time in 23 years. She was middle-aged, her children were grown, and she had no high school diploma.

But Hilton, a Sanford native, didn't waste any time on self-pity. She sat down and considered her options.

"I figured I would go either toward the medical profession or the law," she says.

Neither was likely to be sent overseas, as Vishay Sprague's manufacturing jobs had been.

The first step was finishing her high school education. Hilton had always enjoyed school and had dropped out decades earlier, only because her mother couldn't afford to drive her to Sanford High from the outskirts of town. (No bus was available back then.) She took the tests for the GED (General Education Development) diploma at Sanford Community Adult Education (SCAE) and passed all subject areas easily. 

"I surprised myself," she recalls.

Next, Hilton enrolled in the Employment Skills Certificate Program (ESCP) at SCAE, which gives high school graduates a chance to earn a number of job-related certificates. Initially, she was thinking of working in a doctor's office. That meant brushing up on basic skills such as English and math and exploring areas that were entirely new, like accounting and computers. 

"I felt a little awkward at first," she says, because she was so unfamiliar with the computer. "But nobody else seemed to notice, and it didn't bother me after awhile."

Hilton eventually earned three certificates in the Employment Skills Certificate Program — her Clerical Certificate, Administrative Assistant Certificate, and Medical Secretary Certificate. Although she earned her certificates from SCAE, she needed to supplement her SCAE classes with courses offered at another school because of scheduling problems. Shortly afterward, she was hired by the billing department at Goodall Health Partners and has worked there for the last two and a half years. 

She says that the Employment Skills Certificate Program gave her training that was both academic and thoroughly practical. She learned about writing business letters and resumes and got valuable pointers on how to present herself during a job interview. She learned the specialized language of medical billing; she still has a notebook from SCAE instructor Shirley Ross on her desk at work.

She advises anyone facing unemployment today to consider taking advantage of local training opportunities like the ESCP program.

"Don't be afraid to try it. It's the greatest thing. It makes you feel so good about yourself," she says.

That's the same advice Lisa Bernier gives to people these days.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, you can go back to school now. Things are different," she says.

Bernier, also of Sanford, worked a series of jobs before she was laid off from U.S. Optical Disc two years ago. She had graduated from Biddeford High School in the mid-1980s and then worked for Rich's department store, Vishay Sprague, and the U.S. Census Bureau. She ran her own housecleaning business for awhile, but found that transportation to job sites was too expensive. She was offered some retraining money after the U.S. Optical layoff and decided to take it.

"I did self-employment and I did the factory, and I did very little office work, but that's what I really enjoyed — and that's where I really needed brushing up," she says.

Bernier studied reading, writing, accounting, computers and other skills to earn a General Career Skills Certificate as well as a Clerical Certificate at SCAE. This led directly to her job as an administrative assistant for the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition program at York County Community Action Corp. in Sanford. She loves helping young mothers nourish their children and themselves.

She says that her time at SCAE gave her more than employment skills; it brought her new confidence in reading and writing in any context. It had been 20 years since she'd studied things like apostrophes and paragraphs, which she knew she'd need in an office job. 

"Even my sentences are a lot better than they were before," she says.

Like many returning students, Bernier had a few moments of hesitation when she registered for her first SCAE classes.

"At first, I was thinking I'm 40 years old, could I do it? Well, I could," she says.

She has a new perspective on the all-too-familiar story of layoffs and business downturns now. She says she's encouraged her sister, whose job at RR Donnelley in Wells will soon disappear, to consider the ESCP program. 

"This could actually help you," she tells her sister. "Try to brush up your skills and go for something you really want now. It's worth it. Why not?"

The Employment Skills Certificate Program at SCAE offers a General Career Skills Certificate, a Clerical Certificate and three advanced certificates, Administrative Assistant Certificate, Accounting Clerk Certificate, and Medical Secretary Certificate. It is possible to be working on more than one certificate concurrently.

SCAE is located in the Anderson Learning Center at 21 Bradeen Street in Springvale. For more information or a registration appointment, call coordinator Lisa Blanchette at 490-5145.