A little more than a decade after immigrating to North Carolina from Cuba, Eliane Hernandez Acosta is teaching a Wake Tech non-degree Spanish class to a group of adults.

"Teaching my native language and sharing it with others is something I always wanted to do," Hernandez Acosta said. "Wake Tech gave me a chance to do something I never thought I could."

The college has been offering her such opportunities, she says, almost from the time she arrived in the U.S. in 2014.

After repeating her senior year in high school to get over her culture shock and improve her English, Hernandez Acosta started at Wake Tech in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program to get her speaking and writing skills up to college level.

"That program connected me with so many students, faculty and resources," she said. "There's a place for everybody at Wake Tech."

With hopes of a legal career, she began pursuing an Associate of Arts degree after completing the EFL program. But her brother persuaded her to change paths, saying she was too nice to ever make it as a lawyer. So, she moved to the Healthcare Administration AAS Degree program, but the prospect of seeing blood and dealing with needles during clinical rotations prompted her to switch again.

Advisors shifted her over to the Medical Billing and Coding AAS Degree in the Medical Office Administration program, where she wouldn't have to complete clinicals and where courses she had already taken fulfilled requirements.

"I was still in health care, but it was more office-oriented," she said.

At the same time, Hernandez Acosta started working as a part-time administrative assistant at Wake Tech to help pay for tuition. She hopped from one campus to another, department to department, filling in for people who were out on leave. A full-time job administrative assistant position eventually opened for her in the Disability Support Services Office in 2018, and she's been on staff at the college ever since.

"It's not so much the place," she said. "It's the people at Wake Tech who make it a wonderful place to work."

She worked for Student Services for several years and, according to Associate Vice President Michael Coleman, was instrumental in setting up the Care Center, Wake Tech's wraparound support program for students.

"Her expertise and collaborative spirit streamlined our processes and created a welcoming environment for everyone," Coleman said. "Eliane consistently went above and beyond to support students and staff, always anticipating needs and bringing people together."

Hernandez Acosta says being a Wake Tech student – she continues to take classes in subjects like project management – gave her a unique perspective about what was needed at the Care Center.

"I'm an advocate for my community," she said. "I want to make sure their needs are understood."

She now serves as coordinator of Wake Tech's Nurse Aide program, which she says allows her to grow professionally and put the bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration she earned in 2024 from North Carolina Wesleyan University – no clinicals required there – to work.

"Eliane is not afraid of a challenge and new adventures," said Kimetha Smith, director of the Nurse Aide program, calling her "a genuine go-getter."

That attitude prompted Hernandez Acosta to pursue the chance to teach Spanish classes, and she expects to continue teaching them in the future.

"I love to learn and bring as much as I can to each role," she said. "I've learned from every single department I've worked in and from every campus."