LVSF ESL student Juan Paniagua is one of the 12 Outstanding Adult Education Students honored by the NM Legislature on Adult Education Day at the Roundhouse. In 2001, Juan, a graduate of Mexico’s National College of Professional Technical Education, began framing houses in the Santa Fe area. Over the years, Juan has leveraged his knowledge, skills, and abilities to rise to be a supervisor and has been responsible for framing over 860 residential and commercial buildings in Santa Fe. Juan reviews the construction plans, specifies the required building materials, marks the layout of the building’s exterior and interior walls, doorways, windows, and then supervises the construction from the rough framing to the interior details.
After working a long construction day, Juan attends a one-on-one ESL tutoring session twice a week with his LVSF tutor, Bob Dodge. Since he began in March 2019, Juan has never been late or unprepared. During the summer months, when there is still daylight left after his tutoring session, Juan returns to work until dark.
Juan is close to achieving his American Dream of becoming a NM licensed Framing Contractor and owning his own business. In addition to learning conversational English, Juan is learning how to understand the language of construction, safety and business regulations. Juan’s desire to communicate effectively with contractors, clients, construction crew members and his family drives his dedication to improving his English language skills.
Student of the Year 2019
