It’s high school graduation season, and this spring, graduates of Santiago Canyon College’s Adult High School Diploma program are achieving a milestone they previously never thought was possible.
One of this year’s program graduates is Flo Cudal. Her journey to completing high school has been long, but it has been one of the most fulfilling endeavors of her life.
Cudal is a 36-year-old Santa Ana resident who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was 11 years old. In lieu of pursuing a high school diploma as a teenager, she chose instead to work, primarily in positions at employment agencies.
But what Cudal quickly found is that each time she was up for a promotion, she was passed over for advancement by other candidates who had earned high school diplomas. This pattern repeated itself 10 times, and amid her discouragement, she decided it was time to make a change.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cudal received a flyer in the mail advertising SCC’s Adult High School Diploma program through the school’s Division of Continuing Education.
Immediately, a light bulb went on for her.
“I saw this flyer that said 100% tuition-free, get your high school diploma, and it was like it was talking to me,” Cudal said. “I felt like, OK, I’m going to take this.”
With the flyer in hand, Cudal made her way to SCC’s College & Workforce Preparation Center and met with counselor Rosa Salazar Dela Torre, who outlined her high school diploma education completion plan on the spot.
Since a significant amount of time had passed since Cudal was in high school, her diploma completion plan had her starting from square one. She initially committed to a part-time schedule, which gave her the flexibility to continue working while she went to school.
In spring 2023, she chose to attend full time, adding dual enrollment classes to her schedule, and she completed her high school diploma program in July 2023.
But Cudal’s education journey didn’t stop there. Last fall, she enrolled at SCC as a college student and is working toward a spring 2026 graduation with her associate degree in STEM. She has plans to transfer to a four-year university to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and public policy en route to becoming a professor.
“The same program that got me through it is the same program that introduced me to something that is bigger,” Cudal said. “And that is to dream bigger and to give back to the community.”
Now a college student, Cudal is not sitting on the sidelines or letting her age be a deterrent in experiencing all that college has to offer. SCC’s First Year Support Center coordinator Alejandro Ramirez got her connected with Associated Student Government, and this last academic year, she applied her employment skills as ASG’s Commissioner of Recruitment. As of this month, she will serve as ASG president for the 2024-2025 academic year.
As part of her ASG experience, Cudal has traveled to Washington, D.C. and attended the Student Senate for California Community Colleges General Assembly in Santa Clara, California.
“ASG opened an opportunity for me,” Cudal said. “I really am passionate about helping people, helping my fellow students and advocating for them. … We’ve created a family. It’s something that we are very proud of as an organization, and I want to continue that.”
Since she desires to become a professor, Cudal has also connected with SCC’s TRiO Future Teachers Student Support Services program. With support from TRiO coordinator Berenice Mosqueda, she and her fellow TRiO members will be traveling to New York this month to tour Columbia, NYU and Princeton, education destinations she never thought would have been possible just a few short years ago.
And Cudal is already putting those teaching skills to use by helping other SCC classmates as a peer tutor in several STEM classes, including chemistry and computer science.
“I’m very, very grateful to these people,” Cudal said. “SCC is a big part of my life and not only opened opportunity for me but helped me to be a better person. I feel like it never would have started if I did not come here.”
As Cudal walked across the stage at Fred Kelly Stadium in Orange with her fellow SCC Adult High School Diploma program graduates earlier this month, she felt a unique sense of pride, accomplishment and hope for her future with the knowledge that no matter her age, the sky is the limit.
“We might have all different backgrounds in life, and we might all have different paths that we want to go, but at the end of the day, education is very important,” Cudal said.
“SCC has become my home. I feel safe, and I feel very welcome. We have a tagline (at SCC) that says, ‘What happens here matters.’ Everything that has happened to me here, it all matters.”
