Student Spotlight
William Villaparedes
William has 5 family members in Utah. William came to the United States looking for better opportunities to provide for his family and a better future for his children. William feels Utah is a beautiful state with many mountains and natural parks. He says,” The people here are very friendly. This state has a very good economy, a low unemployment rate, a low crime rate, and a low drug use rate.” He has been United States for 3 years. William works for OC TANNER, in The Shipping Department. William likes traveling, seeing new places, hiking, climbing mountains, motorcycles, old cars, the beach, and playing pool. He studied Law and graduated as a Lawyer. He also studied automotive technology, graduated, and worked for many years at General Motors in the Marketing department. In William’s words: “I arrived in Utah in January 2021, my original goal was to work for 6 months and return to Venezuela, but in March 2021, the United States government approved the TPS (temporary protected status) program that I applied for.
In September 2022, the HUMANITARIAN FREEDOM program was created, through which, and with the help of a Sponsor (Claudia la Torre, a very good person who helped me), I made the request to bring my family here. After three years without my family, the government approved my family's application in January 2024. In October 2022 I started working at OC Tanner, with Amber Feigleson being my group leader at that time. She supported me and got me access to the rhelevate.com program for the first time (December 2022). Then maybe in February 2023 Amber helped me register in Columbus and I started attending classes, I don’t remember well but I think I started at the Red level.” William is an excellent student, his attendance in class has been very consistent. He has worked hard, listened, applied what he has learned, and he is now in the advanced group at Columbus. He is also an outstanding person. He is hard-working, respectful, and appreciative. We are so grateful for William, and we are blessed to have him at Columbus. Thank you, William!
