Success — Lives Transformed

CET Training Provides Marketable Skills for Luis Murillo

Luis Murillo, a Mexican immigrant has demonstrated success for his passion in automotive repair. After years of manual labor, he attended CET Automotive Maintenance training, and now works with sophisticated electronics and hydraulics, and earns compensation that allows him to have pride in himself, and provides independence and prosperity.

Luis was born in Halisco Mexico into a large family of three brothers and one sister. When he was in middle school, his father and older brother migrated to the US and worked for several years while obtaining the Visa's for the rest of the family to join them. During this time he traveled back and forth from the US to Mexico. Finally when Luis was sixteen years old, he came to the US — that was eleven years ago.

Luis finished high school at Galt High School, approx 30 miles south of Sacramento, and had plans to attend college, however, his father was in accident, so he and his brothers had to go to work to provide for the family.

With very little training or skills, his first job was working for a landscaping company. After that he went to work in a Nursery, where he was in charge of irrigation. An excellent worker, Luis was promoted to truck driver for the Nursery, managing the daily deliveries for the company.

Disaster struck... He was laid off. But being optimistic about his future, Luis wanted to take the opportunity to learn something new. He heard about CET from a friend that worked at Chamber of Commerce, and discovered that they had an Automotive Maintenance program that interested him.

But how could he pay for the training and how would he pay his bills during his training?

Luck would have it that Luis found the Financial Aid from Zeta to pay for his CET Training

Luis found he excelled in the Automotive Maintenance Technician training. After almost one year, he graduated and then went to work for Paratransit Inc. as an automotive technician. His duties ranged from working with electrical problems, to repairing AC, to working on hydraulic lifts (for the passengers who have wheelchairs).

After six years of success, Luis was transferred to the Community Transit Agency, Inc., as a Manager, where his duties include the critical tasks of bus repair and maintenance, vendor relations and scheduling drivers. Ms. Grace Malson, his supervisor, commented that "Luis is a great employee — keeps the buses in repair and "on the road", fits in with the staff and has a good work ethic. His bi-lingual skills are a great asset for our organization." Another element of Luis' success is his current compensation, which is almost $18.00 an hour!

Luis met his wife, Veronica during his training at CET, while she was attending the Accounting program Upon graduation, she secured employment with CET Sacramento. Veronica and Luis currently live in Galt, with their 5 month old baby and are thankful to CET for all that they have in their lives.

Luis shared "CET provided an opportunity to become a better citizen and improve my income for my family. Thanks to CET I had the opportunity to buy a house and become a manager — I am where I am because of the training CET gave me."

Up to top