For Tatiana Manacov, Orange Technical College was the start of a big, challenging, yet ultimately highly successful path.
Tatiana enrolled at Orange Technical College seven years ago to take the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class. She came to the US with very basic English and attended to achieve a conversational level of English.
Tatiana never thought she would be able to pursue a higher level of education further because she didn’t feel comfortable speaking, writing, or reading English. Nevertheless, with encouragement from OTC teachers, pursuing higher and higher levels of education is exactly what Tatiana did.
Passing her ESOL test was just the first step in Tatiana’s journey. After gaining the confidence to pursue her associate degree at Valencia College, Tatiana began to have bigger and bigger dreams of what the future could hold for her.
Tatiana graduated from Valencia College with Honors and received a full scholarship to attend UCF and pursue a bachelor’s in nursing. With an AA and a bachelor’s degree in her back pocket, Tatiana enrolled at Doane University to obtain the remaining prerequisites that would allow her to receive a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Advent Health.
Tatiana continues to exceed all her highest expectations, pointing to the skills and confidence she gained while at OTC as the first tool that prepared her for this success.
When asked what advice she would give someone signing up for ESOL classes, Tatiana said, “The most important factor that helped me was resilience and grit. This is the country of opportunities, with great people to help along the way, ready to inspire and encourage you, like the teachers at OTC.”
Orange Technical College is dedicated to helping students of all backgrounds and levels achieve their goals and prepare them for further education and the workforce. In Tatiana’s words, “Young or old, OTC treats everyone with great respect and equal opportunities.”