‘Learner of Year,’ a Seventh-Grade Dropout, Never Let the Flame Die

At age 17, Gloria Isabella Mercado was a seventh-grade dropout with three children, a shaky marriage and little hope of ever realizing her lifelong dream of becoming a schoolteacher.

That dream grew even dimmer when Mercado was forced to join a system she equated with charity, hopelessness and shame: welfare.

But when she was recently named “California Adult Learner of the Year” by the state community college system, Mercado, now 46, credited the Department of Social Services’ public assistance program as the key to her success.

Through a joint program of social services and the San Diego Community College District, Mercado obtained a high-school equivalency degree, got off welfare and found a job. Now she is working toward a degree in education at San Diego City College.

Mercado serves as an example to other welfare recipients that dreams should not die in the face of poverty, San Diego City College officials said.

“Living on welfare was so demeaning that I didn’t have the confidence or drive to get an education,” Mercado said. “Before, I would walk with my head looking down to the ground because I was ashamed of my situation and always trying to find pennies or small change to help out. Today I feel so proud of myself that I no longer look to the ground when I walk. I don’t find fallen money anymore either--I earn it.”

Mercado began pulling herself out of the poverty cycle with the help of GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence), a program funded by the Department of Social Services that requires welfare recipients to take classes in basic math and reading to increase their chances of getting a job.

GAIN nominated Mercado for the state Adult Learner of the Year Award because program officials watched her bloom from a student reluctant to get her education after years of procrastinating, into an eager co-ed, GAIN coordinator Barbara Barnes said. Adult education programs throughout the state nominate candidates for the award, and the winner is decided by the state chancellor’s office, Barnes said.

The award puts Mercado in the running to become national Outstanding Adult Learner and receive a plaque presented by Barbara Bush and Dan Quayle later this month, Barnes said.

“Gloria is a true inspiration,” Barnes said. “She has proven that strong desire truly is the first step to success.”

For Mercado, a lifelong San Diego resident, taking that first step was the hardest part.

She had her first baby at age 14 in 1961 and ended up in a home for unwed mothers.

She quit school soon afterward. Two years later, she was pregnant again with the child of a different man. She married that man one year afterward, at age 17, and had a third child.

“I can remember when the girls my age were getting ready for their senior prom and partying, and how much I felt cheated,” she said. “I was raising babies, changing diapers and making bottles when they were having fun.”

By that time, the mother of three had started receiving welfare, which she would continue getting for the next 20 years. She had two more children, one of whom died as an infant. By the time she was 29 in 1974, her marriage broke up. She remarried in 1977 and had two more children by her second husband.

Both during and after her marriages, she said, she felt the sense of degradation and hopelessness that came with a $500 monthly welfare check stretched to feed and clothe six children.

It was pointless to fill out a job application listing a seventh-grade education, she said.

Then, in 1987, when Mercado was 42 and had little idea that her life would ever change for the better, the state Department of Social Services decided people on welfare rolls with school-aged children would have to take classes in reading, language and math to prepare to enter the job world, she said.

The ruling was a blessing in disguise for Mercado, who was petrified of taking classes again, but knew it would be for her own good.

“I was pretty upset with the Department of Social Services for sending me back to school because I was afraid of failing,” Mercado said. “But, within two weeks, I realized this was a chance for me, and I really dove into my books.”

The studying led to her equivalency degree within two months. By December of that year she was hired by the GAIN instructional lab to work 12 to 15 hours a week tutoring others. And, even though money was tight at first, Mercado managed to get off welfare and support herself.

Now she works full-time at the lab, tutoring students in English, math and reading, and attends college classes at night. She earns $7 an hour. Today her days are filled with working full-time at the lab. Although most of her children have left the nest to raise children of their own, she still has an 11-year-old and 14-year-old at home. Both attend a local junior high school.

Although she is proud of the state award and the progress she has made toward grasping her dream, she is most impressed with the way her children see things.

“I am proud of my mom, and this is a great accomplishment for her self-esteem,” said daughter Irene Correa, 30. “I have always been proud of her, but she has not always been proud of herself. This award helps a lot.”

“I spent all those years telling the kids they could never have the things other kids had,” Mercado said, “and they spent their time telling me I could do it. Now they are really proud of me because I am doing things for myself.”