Guild Partnership Leads to First Graduates

For 33 years, Juan Puentes has been employed at Tyson Foods. Throughout that time, he’s worked hard and provided for his family, proudly watching his son and daughter graduate college and build successful careers themselves. 

Life was good. Recently, it’s gotten better. 

About a year ago, Juan enrolled in the New Readers Press Distance Learning Program that Tyson Foods made available to him for free through Guild to earn his high school equivalency diploma.  

Through our growing partnership with Guild, companies like Hilton, Pepsi, Tesla, Chipotle, Target, and Tyson Foods invest in their employees to provide access to education and spur career advancement from within. Employees like Juan gain access to our online New Readers Press Distance Learning Program and small group tutoring.  

Juan came to the US from Mexico as a teenager. After three months he left high school to work and support his family by selling carpets. When he was approached to enroll in the high school equivalency program at Tyson, he wasn’t sure he had the resolve to do it.  

“It felt kind of like a mission impossible,” he said. 

But he leaned on his instructors, and he started making his way through the program. Soon, he found himself making flash cards in his free time and studying them during his work breaks. He made his way through each subject in the course, and as he learned more he said he started to notice a difference in himself at work.  

“One thing from this program that helped me a lot—just the way I speak has changed. I listen more, I think before I’m going to speak more, and I use different language that I didn’t know before. I just sound different,” Juan said. 

He earned his GED certificate in July. 

I finished my [last] test and I told one of the test center employees that it was my last one, and I think I did enough to pass it. And I started feeling happy at that time. I said, ‘uh oh, I think I managed to do it.’” 

Earning his diploma has given Juan a new sense of what more he can achieve. In the next five years, he said his goal is to move up in management at Tyson. 

After a full year of partnering with Guild, Juan became one of our very first graduates, with more joining the ranks every month. New Readers Press Online Learning is now offered by 23 employers.