Investing in Our Own: A GED® Success Story at the Ebeid Center

At the Ebeid Center, the commitment to building lasting autonomy extends beyond the community it serves. It also includes its own team. Mateo Cuevas, who works in the Market on the Green, recently completed his GED through the Ebeid Center's on-site GED program, offered in partnership with Penta Career Center.

For Mateo, the chance to finish his GED where he already worked turned a long-held goal into something achievable. Bringing the classroom directly into the Ebeid Center removed the barriers that most often stop working adults from going back to school: transportation, scheduling conflicts, and everything else competing for their time. Surrounded by instructors, coworkers and classmates who wanted him to finish, he was able to study somewhere that made success both accessible and attainable.

On Thursday, June 4th, Mateo graduated with his GED, a milestone that reflects both his own determination and what happens when the barriers come down. He was also chosen as commencement speaker for his graduating class. Afterward, he was one of two students in that class selected to receive a scholarship to continue his education.

Mateo's story is a reminder that the same programming built to create autonomy in the community creates it inside the building too. By meeting people where they already are, in the community, working at the Market on the Green, or in a classroom down the hall, the Ebeid Center keeps proving that opportunity, once it is genuinely reachable, can change the direction of a life.