MISSION COLLEGE : PACE Geared to Working Adults

Gertrude Donlin, a full-time secretary, doubted that she could find the time to earn a college degree, much less graduate before her 26-year-old daughter.

But an adult education program at Mission College--with classes at night and on weekends in unusual locations such as churches and hospitals--soon erased those concerns. After five semesters in the Project Adult College Education program (PACE), Donlin received an associate of arts degree in liberal studies.

“I thought, ‘My brain is still working, let me try this,’ ” said Donlin, 54, who earned her degree in 1988. She was the first member of her family to earn a college degree. “I made it through the first semester and said, ‘Wow, I can do this!’ ”

Her daughter, Mimi Donlin, 26, of Granada Hills was so impressed that she joined the program with her mother while working full-time as a clerk-typist.

“I was a business major and needed liberal studies,” Mimi Donlin said. “I figured if my mom could do it, I could do it.”

The program caters to the needs of full-time workers, said Benny Scott, Mission’s PACE director. Each four-class semester includes two hours of televised lectures, four hours of night school, and eight full-day Saturday conferences, he said. Classes are held in locations such as high school cafeterias, churches, hospitals and union halls.

More than 800 students are enrolled in Mission College’s program, more than any other of the seven local community colleges with similar programs, Scott said.

The students form support groups and trade textbooks. And school officials hold registration in the classroom to avoid long lines.

“On all ends, they make this the easiest way to go through school as adults,” Mimi Donlin said.

More PACE students transfer to upper-division universities than regular students at Mission, Scott said.

Since earning her PACE degree, Gertrude Donlin has graduated from Cal State Dominguez Hills. Her daughter is now attending Cal Poly Pomona.

Mother and daughter have also moved on to better Los Angeles city jobs since graduating from PACE. Gertrude Donlin is a management analyst and Mimi is a clerical supervisor in the city clerk’s office.

“It was a phenomenal way to learn about the world around you,” Mimi Donlin said. “You learn about art, literature, history, culture. I wondered how people could get through life without knowing what these things are.”