Covid Survivor Passes Adult Ed Finish Line

Six months ago, Raquel Cuiman was in a hospital bed fighting for her life against Covid for a second time.

This week, with the support of her family, friends, and mentors at the New Haven Adult & Continuing Education Center, she received her GED — and is now pursuing a dream to help others overcome the same health and emotional and educational obstacles she found a way to clear.

Cuiman told that story on Tuesday morning as she was one of 130 students to graduate from the Adult Ed center. The ceremony took place at the Omni Hotel on Temple Street. The graduating students ranged in ages from 17 to 70 years old. 

In her opening remarks, Adult Ed Assistant Principal Stephanie Paris-Cooper congratulated the class for the commitment and determination that helped them to cross the finish line. 

“Education is the password to the future,” said Paris-Cooper.

General Educational Development (GED) graduate Raquel Cuiman shared during the ceremony that the past year while at Adult Ed was full of ​”trials and a plethora of tribulations” mostly due to the Covid pandemic. 

“Covid showed you how valuable you are,” she said.

At the start of last year, Cuiman caught Covid for the first time and it ​“knocked me down,” she recalled. 

As a result she was out of school and work for weeks. She said her Covid-induced illness and being out of school and work for so long caused a significant amount of emotional and physical strain. 

Months later, she was admitted to hospital for a suicide attempt. She then ended a long-term relationship. She then resigned from her job. 

“Thank you God for a second chance at life,” she said on Tuesday. 

On top of it all, towards the end of 2022, Cuiman lost her father to cancer. Soon thereafter, she and her son had to find a new place to live. 

At the start of this year, she caught a bad case of Covid again. This time around, she said, ​“I made a promise to myself that I am no victim and that everything in my life is happening for me and not to me.” 

After recovering, Cuiman was able to refocus and get back on track with her schooling. 

Next she bought a gown for Tuesday’s celebration which she described as her ​“wedding to success.”

This coming fall, Cuiman plans to attend Gateway Community College’s Drug and Alcohol Recovery Counselor (DARC) program with the end goal of one day opening up her own adolescent support home. 

She aims to work with children similar to her who are growing up in group or foster homes. 

Cuiman’s mentor, Maureen ​“Ms. Maureen” Rya, who is a GED teacher for Adult Ed, described Cuiman as always having a positive attitude despite the many challenges she’s had to overcome. ​“I’m proud because she never gave up,” Ryan said. 

Handmade baked treats at Tuesday’s ceremony were made by Adult Ed’s culinary students and served during the event. 

Adult Ed Principal Michelle Bonora invited the graduates to return to the Adult Ed site Thursday at 10 a.m. to get post-secondary work opportunities from Gateway’s Workforce Alliance. 

“You represent the best of our community,” Mayor Justin Elicker told the graduates. 

Elicker also thanked the Adult Ed team including State Rep. Toni Walker, who’s also an Adult Ed assistant principal, for working to get Adult Education into a new building on Bassett Street. 

Castillo: "I Am You & You Are Me"

Tuesday’s keynote speaker was WYBC 94.3 Radio Director of Operations Juan Castillo. 

Castillo shared his story of being an immigrant from Panama who strayed from being a collegiate All-American basketball player in Brooklyn looking to get picked up by the New York Knicks to facing 15 years to life in prison after being arrested his senior year. 

While serving his sentence, which ended up being five years, Castillo was mentored by former Connecticut Gov. Ella Grasso, who vouched for his release at his parole board hearing.

After his release Castillo was in a similar position that all of the graduates in front of him once faced, asking himself: ​“How can I get my GED?” 

Castillo attended an adult education program in New York and, after graduating, got a job in Connecticut with the continued support of Grasso. ​“I am you and you are me,” he said to Tuesday’s graduates. 

In final remarks, Castillo offered the class of 2023 two tools for success: find mentors and give yourself time to make decisions and to make those decisions with loving and caring for yourself in mind. 

If they can do those two things, he said, they too could end up on a stage as a graduation keynote speaker. 

Adult Ed’s ESOL Facilitator Erica Walden presented eight students who achieved United States citizenship this year with awards and another eight ESOL students with certificates for passing the Certified Nursing Assistant program.

Adult Ed serves 1,500 English Language Leaners, Walden added. Those ESOL students comes from 80 different countries and speak a total of 40 different languages.

Also in attendance at Tuesday’s graduation was New Haven Public Schools Supt. Iline Tracey and Gateway Community College CEO William T. Brown. 

"What Worked Best For Me"

Another graduate celebrating making it through adult ed on Tuesday was Sasha Cohen Cox, who had attended Hillhouse High School up until a few months ago during the middle of her senior year. 

She pursued an alternate route to receive her high school diploma, through Adult Ed, after struggling to re-adjust back into the city’s second largest high school. 

While at Hillhouse, Cohen Cox took several honors classes and only needed three more credits to graduate. It was easiest for her to attend her Adult Ed classes everyday rather than spending an entire day at school to finish up three classes. 

“This is what worked best for me,” she said. 

She recalled during her freshman year she was involved in her school’s volleyball team and debate and math clubs and was working all at the same time. 

However, after the pandemic, she said school lost the structure it once had for her. 

“Before my packed schedule worked, but during Covid I just had too much time on my hands and coming back there wasn’t structure,” she added. 

ESOL students who completed Adult Ed’s certified nursing assistant (CNA) program did 102 hours of coursework and training with the school’s partner Northeast Medical Institute. The students also passed the state nurse’s aide exam. 

Mother of two Erika Miranda Hernandez celebrated becoming a certified nurse’s aide with her daughter and son after moving to New Haven from New York five years ago. 

“This wasn’t a part of my plan but I’m happy I know now,” she said. 

She previously worked in a bakery in New York before learning about the option to go back to school. Next she’s going to Gateway Community College for its nursing program. 

She added that she aims to show her kids that they can do anything they want at any age. 

At Adult Ed she said she received lots of support and work opportunities while a student. 

“The environment is friendly and they really want to help you,” she said. 

Miranda Hernandez was joined by her kids Manuel and Melissa Cruz-Miranda on Tuesday. 

Her daughter Melissa, 16, said she plans to go to college to study criminal psychology and after seeing her mom complete her goal Tuesday she is motivated and ​“knows that I can do the hard work as well.”