August 5, 2025 • 18 mins
Aired June 29, 2025:The HIGH SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY ACADEMY (HSE ACADEMY) they are helping folks move ahead in the world. They are dedicated to making a direct impact in the lives of non-high school graduates in the communities they serve. They do this by offering the high-quality high school equivalency (HSE) preparation program at no cost to you.
The HSE is a nationally recognized certificate that is equivalent to a high school diploma. The HSE exam consists of five tests over two days: Writing, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics and Reading.
FREE to anyone listening? Lisa Foxx dives in with Gregory Barraza, the Director for the High School Equivalency program.
Through their HSE Academy, we are here to do everything we can to help you do your best on the California HiSET® exam. This is one of the three HSE exams adopted by the state in 2014. Our HSE Academy is solely dedicated to helping prepare you to successfully pass the HiSET®. When you pass this exam, you earn your high school equivalency certificate. They are here to help you prepare for your HSE exam and succeed! Many people dream of a brighter and successful future, and we can help you make that dream a reality.
It starts with a phone call at (877) 337-5129. Their representatives are happy to talk with you and go through your options. Call today!
HSE Academy Program Overview
The HSE is a nationally recognized certificate that is equivalent to a high school diploma. The HSE exam consists of five tests over two days: Writing, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics and Reading.
FREE to anyone listening? Lisa Foxx dives in with Gregory Barraza, the Director for the High School Equivalency program.
Through their HSE Academy, we are here to do everything we can to help you do your best on the California HiSET® exam. This is one of the three HSE exams adopted by the state in 2014. Our HSE Academy is solely dedicated to helping prepare you to successfully pass the HiSET®. When you pass this exam, you earn your high school equivalency certificate. They are here to help you prepare for your HSE exam and succeed! Many people dream of a brighter and successful future, and we can help you make that dream a reality.
It starts with a phone call at (877) 337-5129. Their representatives are happy to talk with you and go through your options. Call today!
HSE Academy Program Overview
- Purpose: Helps individuals earn their High School Equivalency diploma by preparing them for the HiSET® exam.
- Target Audience: Designed for adults and young adults who didn’t complete traditional high school.
- Program Format: Offers a hybrid model—a mix of in-person and online instruction for flexibility.
- Curriculum Focus: Covers core subjects tested on the HiSET®: reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.
- Support Services: Includes academic coaching, career guidance, and digital literacy support.
- Goal: Empower students to achieve personal, educational, and career success through a second-chance education.
- Community Impact: Aims to reduce barriers to education and open doors to employment, college, and vocational training.
- Accessibility: Offers free or low-cost options to make the program accessible to underserved communities.
- Success-Oriented: Celebrates student milestones and tracks outcomes like graduation, job placement, and further education.
- Mission-Driven: Focused on equity, opportunity, and lifelong learning.
The HSE Academy is a hybrid program, which means part of your program will be completed through live in-class instruction and the rest will be completed online. To help you successfully complete their program, they provide assistance with setting up your class schedule, individual tutoring, and various online materials and resources. They help walk you through every part of each test so on the day of the exam, you are well-prepared and ready to go!
FIND OUT MORE HERE: https://acc-ef.org/hse/programs/high-school-equivalency-academies.html
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi is Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart So
Cal Show. So today we're talking all about how to
help people get their ged their high school diploma and
at no cost thanks to the High School Equivalency Academy,
the HSE Academy. They're all about helping folks move ahead
in the world by getting this very important education and
(00:21):
document to open doors for your future. On to talk
all about it is their executive director, Gregory Braza.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hi are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm great? Thank you. Gregory Braza is the executive director
of the High School Equivalency Academy. And you've been with
them for how.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Long I've been with them for a little over a
year now, about fourteen months, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And why is it so important to you to work
with a program that's all about helping folks get their
their diploma.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This particular program and working with this population of students
has really been my passion and that that's why this
program is important to me. I've been in alternative and
correctional education for thirty years and at the K twelve level,
I worked with the Orange County Department of Educations Alternative
Correctional Education, and I also worked at Chapman University, where
(01:10):
we for did the Underground Panthers, providing higher education opportunities
for formerly incarcerated students. Okay, and when I came over here,
that same passion was brought here and I found this program,
and the program found me, and we became you know,
we established our relationship knowing that my passion can help
(01:33):
fuel this program to grow and expand to serve more
students who meet their high school equipment.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So sure, I love that. I love that you're saying this.
And obviously we want to talk about the types of
people that are seeking seeking to get their high school diploma.
But it's acc ef dot org is a website first
of all, ACCF dot org and it's all for free.
We're going to talk about how you offer these services
online and in person. But Gregory, I was reading some
(02:01):
of the stats on the website and ha, these are
tough to read. One and four. One and four is
a number of students in Los Angeles and San Bernino
counties who do not complete their high school education. In
Orange County, it's about one and five. How can this
be true?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Indisially, there are several determinating factors that where a student
will stop attending high school. Whether it's maybe family issues
that come into play. Maybe a student has to go
to work to help support the family, Maybe a student
gets pregnant or they begin a family as they're in
high school, and so that inhibits going to high school
(02:43):
and completing their diploma. And there are also other factors.
We have a large population who are what we call
newcomers tous this country, and students come and they haven't
completed their high school diploma in their home country, and
so they come to us and we provide the educational
pathway to get their equivalency diploma with us.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, that's wonderful, and I see on here also seventeen thousand.
Seventeen thousand the number the total number of high school
dropouts from La Orange and San Bernino Counties during the
most recent reporting year for the California Department of Education.
So yeah, there's really a need for this.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, And we're as far as my research goes, we're
the only nonprofit that serves this population and a full
service on this population. In other words, we do all
the test prep for free, and we pay for all
their tests. And community colleges and adult education offices at
the local school districts. They do provide the services, but
(03:45):
not a lot of them will pay for the test.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And how much does it normally cost? How pricey is
it normally to get your high school diploma.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It can get anywhere between two to four hundred dollars,
So depending on if you pass it the first time,
it can be little is two hundred dollars, but if
you need to do retests, then that's additional costs. The
registration is an additional cost. Some testing centers have testing fees,
which is additional costs. If you want your transcripts and
you want your actual certificate or a copy of it,
(04:15):
that's an additional cost. So it can add up to
be somewhere between five and six hundred dollars when everything
is said and done.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Okay, so the High School Equivalency Academy, the HSE exam
consists of five tests over two days, writing, social studies, science, mathematics,
and reading. Oh, I just had some bad flashbacks just
reading those topics. Writing, I mean writing, you know do that?
We do that every day in life? Social studies, I
(04:43):
was a fan of social studies in the high school.
Science yet sure, mathematics, no, and reading of course, and
we need that's very very important skill, life skill that
we all need. But let's break down how you all
work and essentially, yeah, walk us through the program for
folks who are in need of getting their high school education,
get that diploma, get that certificate from all walks of life.
(05:06):
How does the program work.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, essentially, we determine whether a student will take the
high set, which is the one you described that has
five tests, or the GED which has four tests. They're
both equivalent. California offers both and they're both considered the
high school equivalency certificates, so it doesn't matter which one
they do. But depending on the student and the time
that we do have with the student, we'll give them
(05:29):
one or two directions. So that's the first one. The
first step. So student will call us, they'll make an
appointment to come into our orientation and we accept everyone,
so we don't have any we don't have any tests
or restrictions if you Our only requirement is that you
want to get this and so if you want to
(05:50):
get it, you give us a call. We'll ask you
to come in. Every other Monday, we have an orientation
and that's where we have you sit in and you
look at our program. You set in adjacent to the class,
and you get to observe the class and even participate
on in the second half of class. And if you
feel that that's what you want to do and if
(06:10):
it's a good fit for you, then we just continue
on with the enrollment process. Now, some students, when you
start with us, we give a practice test because we
want to know where you are in all those five subjects. Sure,
we've had students come in and they know all the
all the subject matter and we just turn around to
(06:31):
give them some refresher, a little bit of review, and
we test them five days later because it's you know,
they're ready, they just don't have the diploma, if you will. Yeah,
some students take longer, some students take longer, but our
goal is to have our students graduate within ninety days.
And that's that's where we're on a very direct pathway
(06:51):
for our students. So they'll come in, they'll sit in class,
and then we just you know, you hit the ground running.
You you start with the subjects that you want, and
we do individualized instruction, so each classroom will have different groups.
One group will be reading, one group will be math,
one group will be writing, one group will be social studies, science,
and you get your individualized instruction. We put our students
(07:14):
on a software called IXL and i Excel supplements our programs,
and then we give practice tests frequently so we can
determine how soon we can actually test you and how
how we can give our curriculum accordingly. And so it's
we understand that students come to us and they want
(07:36):
their ged or their high set equivalency. They want it yesterday. Yeah,
they can't wait, they can't wait six months, and so
we try we try to accommodate that for our students.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So you said ninety days, then is it about right
to make it through the entire process.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's our goal when people start with us, that is
our goals to get them within three months. And then
we've had some stay you know, a month or two longer,
and we've had some like I mentioned, finish within a week.
So it's all dependent on the student, but our goal
is for three months for every student love it.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And then what's talk about the locations and then the
part where we can do some online or all of
it online.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yes, we have several on ground locations. We have one
in Anaheim at the West Coast University campus off of
Lafama and Brookers. We have our Los Angeles campus, which
is in Hollywood off of the one to one in
Vermont at the West Coast University there. And we have
(08:35):
another on ground campus in Ontario off of right by
the airport and that's at the American Career College campus there.
So those are our three main campuses. We have three
satellite campuses, one in Orange, one in Santa Ana and
one in Buena Park. Yeah, our satellite campuses are Spanish only,
(08:56):
so we give the instruction in Spanish, and we actually
give test in Spanish too. Those campuses will give Spanish
instruction and testing.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That's a lot of locations, that's great.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, and then we have our online as well. And
our online is really for folks who the other the
times that at the on ground campuses don't work or
there's maybe there's transportation issues or there's other issues, and
so we do offer online instruction as well and online testing,
and we do that in English and Spanish as well.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And Gregory, you know, so essentially, like you said, you
turn nobody down to get the ged to get their
high school diploma. You turn no one down and it's
at no cost to them. What's the demographic is it?
You know, all different ages, all different ages, shapes, sizes,
people from all walks of life.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Oh, we have everyone you name the demographic, we have it.
We have seventeen year olds who are going to school
concurrently at a credit recovery program. Because if someone's seventeen
years old, then let's say they're at a continuation high school,
they can come to us and get their ged concurrently
with their high school diploma. And so we have those
(10:03):
students coming in and because they feared maybe they're not
going to graduate in time, but at least in this case,
they'll have their their equivalency by the time of graduation.
And we have We just graduated a seventy two year
old and we have everyone in between.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
So we yeah, we have people who have retired and
they've come back to get their high school equivalency our graduation.
We're going to recognize. Something that's been happening quite quite
a lot lately is we've been having families come to us,
which is a wonderful thing to see. So we had
a father's son come through who came through together they
(10:39):
both started and graduated at the same time. We had
a mother father daughter and it's our mother father's son
come through and graduate at the same time. And then
we all now we have currently enrolled a mother daughter
enrolled in our program to who are doing the program
at the same time. And it's just wonderful to see,
you know, we do our cap and gown ceremony next Saturday.
(11:02):
It's just so oftome to seem like the whole family
walk the stage in a cap and gown. Yeah, they
can all care. That's a great moment.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Oh, so you do an actual graduation with all the
fanfare at the end as well, totally and remind folks
again why this is so important. Aside from the obvious,
to be a smart person is going to help you
tackle life and all that's coming our way all the time.
But talk about how important it is to have that
piece of paper, to have that ged that that high
(11:32):
school diploma. Reiterate the importance of having that and the
doors that can open for one's future.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, there's several areas and how why it's important. Firstly,
if if let's say someone wants to go into a
trade and they want to be in the union for
like electrician or plumber or or whatever the case may be.
Then you need you need a high school EQUIPMENTCY or
diploma to actually be accepted into a union job. So
that's if someone wants to go into a vocational expiration
(11:59):
in that area, then this is an important piece of
paper for them to have. If someone wanted to advance
in their current job. We have a lot of students
who are getting their GED because their boss told them, hey,
you need your GED if you want to get a promotion.
They come back and they get their GED. And then
also if someone wants to go into higher education, they
(12:22):
need their GED. They don't. One doesn't need their GED
to go to community community college. One can actually go
to community college without a GED, but or high school diploma.
But if one wants to qualify for TEL grants or
other scholarships, then the GED is a requirement so to
continue on in higher education, the financial assistance will benefit them.
(12:44):
It will benefit them to have their their GED. And
also if someone scores well, If someone scores well enough
on a GED, you can actually get college courses ways,
so you take less classes in college the better you
do on a GED.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So this is all about opening more doors, more opportunities,
more chances to make more money, to do more, to
be more percent So the best place people can go
to apply because they can they can apply online or
they can call your eight seven seven number. Right, they
can do either.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Right if they go to our website and click on
the High School Equivalency Academy, then the application will be
the first thing they see. Just fill out that form
and click submit and one of our admissions devisors will
call and get the information that we need and will
invite you to come our next orientation.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And again the website is accash ef dot o RG,
or you can google a High School Equivalency Academy, the
h SE Academy and their phone number eight seven seven
three three seven five one two nine. And we've been
at Chattie with there Gregory Barraza. He's the executive director
of the High School Equivalency Program. Gregory, you've mentioned before
(13:53):
how passionate you are about this program, about how the
fact that you offer this program offers a chance for
any one from all walks of life, all ages, all shapes,
all sizes, all this stuff to get their ged their
high school diploma for free through you. There must be
some incredible success stories because they still to put in
the work and they still to do the testing and
(14:14):
pass and whatnot. You're a new everything in your power
that you can to help them succeed. But they're there
because they want it. They're there because they know what
doors this could open for them. Got to be a
ton of success stories, like ongoing success stories.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, oh, yeah, we have quite a few success stories
with this. We have one student right now who she
finished with us and now she's attending university in London.
So she she went off to university in London, and
that's an awesome thing because she got this and was like,
I want to go I want to go to a
different country and study. And this helps her out because
(14:50):
once again she was able to qualify for financial assistance. Yay.
And then also seeing families and people just progress in
their careers as well. When we have students come back
who have grown, you know, in their career, you know,
because of this, and now they're like, they would donate
computers to us for their you know, for the students
who are coming up after, so they're paying it forward essentially, sure,
(15:13):
and that's the greatest thing. Or we also have students
who will you know, donate lunch for everybody, And so
all of a sudden, you know, like you know, lunch
will show up for the campus and you know, because
you know, I mean, we'll get a note saying thanks
for the motivation or thanks for you know, all the
effort and signed by the student and it was that
(15:33):
kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Is awesome And again at no cost. How are you
able to cover the cost of all this for so
many graduates?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So many We cover the costs by generous donors who
are out there. We have several people who know what
we do, who believe in what we do, who trust
in how we do it, and so they donate the
cost books to cover for for all of these programs.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Wow, incredibly generous and like you said, yeah, they believe
in what you're doing and they believe in helping people
and helping people open doors for their future, open doors
for their future financially and just to be able to
hopefully have the skills to tackle life better and succeed
at a higher level just by getting your high school
diploma through the HSEE Academy. That's all free.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Just important to know that if anyone's just thinking about
getting their equipmentcy and they're not one hundred percent sure,
you know, give us a call and then we can
we can help people make a decision. You know, we're
not going to force anybody to come. We're not selling anything.
So you know, we have people call and they may
not be too sure that they want to do this,
and we just give them an overview and say, hey,
(16:44):
if it's for you, we welcome you. If you know
you want to take your time, take your time. I mean,
it's really no pressure. And so you know, if someone
really feels that this may be something, give us a
call and then you know, we can decide together whether
whether the student wants to move on in this you.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Say yes to everyone. So you say yes to everyone
and cover the cost for you to get your high
school diploma, to get your ged and like Gregory said,
sometimes in a week, sometimes in ninety days, however long
it takes to help you succeed and get this accomplished.
That is their goal. It's the High School Equivalency Academy,
the h s E Academy. All the information on their
(17:24):
website accah EF dot org and that phone number eight
seven seven three three seven five one two nine can
we ask for the super nice Gregory Brazza. If are
you ever answering the phone or you're.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Too busy, you can send me an email at at
g barazadash I said, Barazza at accashf dot org. How
nice is I'll always respond to my Yeah, I will always.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Just respond wonderful. Okay, So thank you again, Gregory Barraza,
and I'll post your email that's okay when I post
the blog post for this Iheartsokel Show. For the High
School Equivalency Academy again, if this applies to you or
someone that you know, knowing that you have, if you
have your GED or your high school diploma, it's going
to open doors for your future. They turn down no one,
(18:11):
they accept everyone and walk you through the process and
pay for all the costs. My gosh, it's hsee academy
can google it or just go right to their direct
website acc dash e F dot org. And again a
recap on the blog for this show, the iHeart Sokel
(18:32):
Show and Gregory again, thank you so much for all
that you do and for caring about higher education and
opening doors for folks for their future, our future, all
of us and this together right.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Thank you oh, thank you for having me.
Hi is Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart So
Cal Show. So today we're talking all about how to
help people get their ged their high school diploma and
at no cost thanks to the High School Equivalency Academy,
the HSE Academy. They're all about helping folks move ahead
in the world by getting this very important education and
(00:21):
document to open doors for your future. On to talk
all about it is their executive director, Gregory Braza.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hi are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm great? Thank you. Gregory Braza is the executive director
of the High School Equivalency Academy. And you've been with
them for how.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Long I've been with them for a little over a
year now, about fourteen months, okay.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And why is it so important to you to work
with a program that's all about helping folks get their
their diploma.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This particular program and working with this population of students
has really been my passion and that that's why this
program is important to me. I've been in alternative and
correctional education for thirty years and at the K twelve level,
I worked with the Orange County Department of Educations Alternative
Correctional Education, and I also worked at Chapman University, where
(01:10):
we for did the Underground Panthers, providing higher education opportunities
for formerly incarcerated students. Okay, and when I came over here,
that same passion was brought here and I found this program,
and the program found me, and we became you know,
we established our relationship knowing that my passion can help
(01:33):
fuel this program to grow and expand to serve more
students who meet their high school equipment.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So sure, I love that. I love that you're saying this.
And obviously we want to talk about the types of
people that are seeking seeking to get their high school diploma.
But it's acc ef dot org is a website first
of all, ACCF dot org and it's all for free.
We're going to talk about how you offer these services
online and in person. But Gregory, I was reading some
(02:01):
of the stats on the website and ha, these are
tough to read. One and four. One and four is
a number of students in Los Angeles and San Bernino
counties who do not complete their high school education. In
Orange County, it's about one and five. How can this
be true?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Indisially, there are several determinating factors that where a student
will stop attending high school. Whether it's maybe family issues
that come into play. Maybe a student has to go
to work to help support the family, Maybe a student
gets pregnant or they begin a family as they're in
high school, and so that inhibits going to high school
(02:43):
and completing their diploma. And there are also other factors.
We have a large population who are what we call
newcomers tous this country, and students come and they haven't
completed their high school diploma in their home country, and
so they come to us and we provide the educational
pathway to get their equivalency diploma with us.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, that's wonderful, and I see on here also seventeen thousand.
Seventeen thousand the number the total number of high school
dropouts from La Orange and San Bernino Counties during the
most recent reporting year for the California Department of Education.
So yeah, there's really a need for this.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, And we're as far as my research goes, we're
the only nonprofit that serves this population and a full
service on this population. In other words, we do all
the test prep for free, and we pay for all
their tests. And community colleges and adult education offices at
the local school districts. They do provide the services, but
(03:45):
not a lot of them will pay for the test.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And how much does it normally cost? How pricey is
it normally to get your high school diploma.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It can get anywhere between two to four hundred dollars,
So depending on if you pass it the first time,
it can be little is two hundred dollars, but if
you need to do retests, then that's additional costs. The
registration is an additional cost. Some testing centers have testing fees,
which is additional costs. If you want your transcripts and
you want your actual certificate or a copy of it,
(04:15):
that's an additional cost. So it can add up to
be somewhere between five and six hundred dollars when everything
is said and done.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Okay, so the High School Equivalency Academy, the HSE exam
consists of five tests over two days, writing, social studies, science, mathematics,
and reading. Oh, I just had some bad flashbacks just
reading those topics. Writing, I mean writing, you know do that?
We do that every day in life? Social studies, I
(04:43):
was a fan of social studies in the high school.
Science yet sure, mathematics, no, and reading of course, and
we need that's very very important skill, life skill that
we all need. But let's break down how you all
work and essentially, yeah, walk us through the program for
folks who are in need of getting their high school education,
get that diploma, get that certificate from all walks of life.
(05:06):
How does the program work.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, essentially, we determine whether a student will take the
high set, which is the one you described that has
five tests, or the GED which has four tests. They're
both equivalent. California offers both and they're both considered the
high school equivalency certificates, so it doesn't matter which one
they do. But depending on the student and the time
that we do have with the student, we'll give them
(05:29):
one or two directions. So that's the first one. The
first step. So student will call us, they'll make an
appointment to come into our orientation and we accept everyone,
so we don't have any we don't have any tests
or restrictions if you Our only requirement is that you
want to get this and so if you want to
(05:50):
get it, you give us a call. We'll ask you
to come in. Every other Monday, we have an orientation
and that's where we have you sit in and you
look at our program. You set in adjacent to the class,
and you get to observe the class and even participate
on in the second half of class. And if you
feel that that's what you want to do and if
(06:10):
it's a good fit for you, then we just continue
on with the enrollment process. Now, some students, when you
start with us, we give a practice test because we
want to know where you are in all those five subjects. Sure,
we've had students come in and they know all the
all the subject matter and we just turn around to
(06:31):
give them some refresher, a little bit of review, and
we test them five days later because it's you know,
they're ready, they just don't have the diploma, if you will. Yeah,
some students take longer, some students take longer, but our
goal is to have our students graduate within ninety days.
And that's that's where we're on a very direct pathway
(06:51):
for our students. So they'll come in, they'll sit in class,
and then we just you know, you hit the ground running.
You you start with the subjects that you want, and
we do individualized instruction, so each classroom will have different groups.
One group will be reading, one group will be math,
one group will be writing, one group will be social studies, science,
and you get your individualized instruction. We put our students
(07:14):
on a software called IXL and i Excel supplements our programs,
and then we give practice tests frequently so we can
determine how soon we can actually test you and how
how we can give our curriculum accordingly. And so it's
we understand that students come to us and they want
(07:36):
their ged or their high set equivalency. They want it yesterday. Yeah,
they can't wait, they can't wait six months, and so
we try we try to accommodate that for our students.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So you said ninety days, then is it about right
to make it through the entire process.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's our goal when people start with us, that is
our goals to get them within three months. And then
we've had some stay you know, a month or two longer,
and we've had some like I mentioned, finish within a week.
So it's all dependent on the student, but our goal
is for three months for every student love it.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And then what's talk about the locations and then the
part where we can do some online or all of
it online.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yes, we have several on ground locations. We have one
in Anaheim at the West Coast University campus off of
Lafama and Brookers. We have our Los Angeles campus, which
is in Hollywood off of the one to one in
Vermont at the West Coast University there. And we have
(08:35):
another on ground campus in Ontario off of right by
the airport and that's at the American Career College campus there.
So those are our three main campuses. We have three
satellite campuses, one in Orange, one in Santa Ana and
one in Buena Park. Yeah, our satellite campuses are Spanish only,
(08:56):
so we give the instruction in Spanish, and we actually
give test in Spanish too. Those campuses will give Spanish
instruction and testing.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
That's a lot of locations, that's great.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, and then we have our online as well. And
our online is really for folks who the other the
times that at the on ground campuses don't work or
there's maybe there's transportation issues or there's other issues, and
so we do offer online instruction as well and online testing,
and we do that in English and Spanish as well.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And Gregory, you know, so essentially, like you said, you
turn nobody down to get the ged to get their
high school diploma. You turn no one down and it's
at no cost to them. What's the demographic is it?
You know, all different ages, all different ages, shapes, sizes,
people from all walks of life.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Oh, we have everyone you name the demographic, we have it.
We have seventeen year olds who are going to school
concurrently at a credit recovery program. Because if someone's seventeen
years old, then let's say they're at a continuation high school,
they can come to us and get their ged concurrently
with their high school diploma. And so we have those
(10:03):
students coming in and because they feared maybe they're not
going to graduate in time, but at least in this case,
they'll have their their equivalency by the time of graduation.
And we have We just graduated a seventy two year
old and we have everyone in between.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
So we yeah, we have people who have retired and
they've come back to get their high school equivalency our graduation.
We're going to recognize. Something that's been happening quite quite
a lot lately is we've been having families come to us,
which is a wonderful thing to see. So we had
a father's son come through who came through together they
(10:39):
both started and graduated at the same time. We had
a mother father daughter and it's our mother father's son
come through and graduate at the same time. And then
we all now we have currently enrolled a mother daughter
enrolled in our program to who are doing the program
at the same time. And it's just wonderful to see,
you know, we do our cap and gown ceremony next Saturday.
(11:02):
It's just so oftome to seem like the whole family
walk the stage in a cap and gown. Yeah, they
can all care. That's a great moment.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Oh, so you do an actual graduation with all the
fanfare at the end as well, totally and remind folks
again why this is so important. Aside from the obvious,
to be a smart person is going to help you
tackle life and all that's coming our way all the time.
But talk about how important it is to have that
piece of paper, to have that ged that that high
(11:32):
school diploma. Reiterate the importance of having that and the
doors that can open for one's future.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Well, there's several areas and how why it's important. Firstly,
if if let's say someone wants to go into a
trade and they want to be in the union for
like electrician or plumber or or whatever the case may be.
Then you need you need a high school EQUIPMENTCY or
diploma to actually be accepted into a union job. So
that's if someone wants to go into a vocational expiration
(11:59):
in that area, then this is an important piece of
paper for them to have. If someone wanted to advance
in their current job. We have a lot of students
who are getting their GED because their boss told them, hey,
you need your GED if you want to get a promotion.
They come back and they get their GED. And then
also if someone wants to go into higher education, they
(12:22):
need their GED. They don't. One doesn't need their GED
to go to community community college. One can actually go
to community college without a GED, but or high school diploma.
But if one wants to qualify for TEL grants or
other scholarships, then the GED is a requirement so to
continue on in higher education, the financial assistance will benefit them.
(12:44):
It will benefit them to have their their GED. And
also if someone scores well, If someone scores well enough
on a GED, you can actually get college courses ways,
so you take less classes in college the better you
do on a GED.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So this is all about opening more doors, more opportunities,
more chances to make more money, to do more, to
be more percent So the best place people can go
to apply because they can they can apply online or
they can call your eight seven seven number. Right, they
can do either.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Right if they go to our website and click on
the High School Equivalency Academy, then the application will be
the first thing they see. Just fill out that form
and click submit and one of our admissions devisors will
call and get the information that we need and will
invite you to come our next orientation.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And again the website is accash ef dot o RG,
or you can google a High School Equivalency Academy, the
h SE Academy and their phone number eight seven seven
three three seven five one two nine. And we've been
at Chattie with there Gregory Barraza. He's the executive director
of the High School Equivalency Program. Gregory, you've mentioned before
(13:53):
how passionate you are about this program, about how the
fact that you offer this program offers a chance for
any one from all walks of life, all ages, all shapes,
all sizes, all this stuff to get their ged their
high school diploma for free through you. There must be
some incredible success stories because they still to put in
the work and they still to do the testing and
(14:14):
pass and whatnot. You're a new everything in your power
that you can to help them succeed. But they're there
because they want it. They're there because they know what
doors this could open for them. Got to be a
ton of success stories, like ongoing success stories.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Right, oh, yeah, we have quite a few success stories
with this. We have one student right now who she
finished with us and now she's attending university in London.
So she she went off to university in London, and
that's an awesome thing because she got this and was like,
I want to go I want to go to a
different country and study. And this helps her out because
(14:50):
once again she was able to qualify for financial assistance. Yay.
And then also seeing families and people just progress in
their careers as well. When we have students come back
who have grown, you know, in their career, you know,
because of this, and now they're like, they would donate
computers to us for their you know, for the students
who are coming up after, so they're paying it forward essentially, sure,
(15:13):
and that's the greatest thing. Or we also have students
who will you know, donate lunch for everybody, And so
all of a sudden, you know, like you know, lunch
will show up for the campus and you know, because
you know, I mean, we'll get a note saying thanks
for the motivation or thanks for you know, all the
effort and signed by the student and it was that
(15:33):
kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Is awesome And again at no cost. How are you
able to cover the cost of all this for so
many graduates?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So many We cover the costs by generous donors who
are out there. We have several people who know what
we do, who believe in what we do, who trust
in how we do it, and so they donate the
cost books to cover for for all of these programs.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Wow, incredibly generous and like you said, yeah, they believe
in what you're doing and they believe in helping people
and helping people open doors for their future, open doors
for their future financially and just to be able to
hopefully have the skills to tackle life better and succeed
at a higher level just by getting your high school
diploma through the HSEE Academy. That's all free.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Just important to know that if anyone's just thinking about
getting their equipmentcy and they're not one hundred percent sure,
you know, give us a call and then we can
we can help people make a decision. You know, we're
not going to force anybody to come. We're not selling anything.
So you know, we have people call and they may
not be too sure that they want to do this,
and we just give them an overview and say, hey,
(16:44):
if it's for you, we welcome you. If you know
you want to take your time, take your time. I mean,
it's really no pressure. And so you know, if someone
really feels that this may be something, give us a
call and then you know, we can decide together whether
whether the student wants to move on in this you.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Say yes to everyone. So you say yes to everyone
and cover the cost for you to get your high
school diploma, to get your ged and like Gregory said,
sometimes in a week, sometimes in ninety days, however long
it takes to help you succeed and get this accomplished.
That is their goal. It's the High School Equivalency Academy,
the h s E Academy. All the information on their
(17:24):
website accah EF dot org and that phone number eight
seven seven three three seven five one two nine can
we ask for the super nice Gregory Brazza. If are
you ever answering the phone or you're.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Too busy, you can send me an email at at
g barazadash I said, Barazza at accashf dot org. How
nice is I'll always respond to my Yeah, I will always.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Just respond wonderful. Okay, So thank you again, Gregory Barraza,
and I'll post your email that's okay when I post
the blog post for this Iheartsokel Show. For the High
School Equivalency Academy again, if this applies to you or
someone that you know, knowing that you have, if you
have your GED or your high school diploma, it's going
to open doors for your future. They turn down no one,
(18:11):
they accept everyone and walk you through the process and
pay for all the costs. My gosh, it's hsee academy
can google it or just go right to their direct
website acc dash e F dot org. And again a
recap on the blog for this show, the iHeart Sokel
(18:32):
Show and Gregory again, thank you so much for all
that you do and for caring about higher education and
opening doors for folks for their future, our future, all
of us and this together right.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Thank you oh, thank you for having me.
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