TESTIMONIALS

April Lyons

I came to ACI in January 2010 after going through a divorce and not working for the last 2-3 years. I was faced with finding a job as soon as possible and taking care of my three children as a single parent. Not looking forward to working a "job" instead of a career, I focused my attention towards school and graduating in hopes of finding a "career" in the legal field. I went to school at ACI during the day and found an after-school job to make ends meet until graduation. Upon graduation in September 2010, I started looking for a position as a Legal Assistant.

After interviewing for one firm and not receiving an offer, I kept my hopes up and interviewed with another firm. I remember all the great teachers at ACI telling all of the students not to be too picky in which type of law we went in to, and to take whatever offer was made to us. My interest was in family law but I interviewed with a firm that practices civil defense. The attorney I interviewed with had someone interviewing for the same position right after my interview, and to my surprise it was a student I went to ACI with. Her attendance and grades were not as good as mine and her interview did not go so well. The very next day he called me and offered the position to me! I was very excited and looked forward to my new career. I also was very fortunate to find a firm within 3 miles of my home, which is so hard to find these days.

I have been here for a year and a half now and love working here. I have had one promotion and two raises during my employment here and I can't begin to explain how much I have learned. I am required to multi-task on a daily basis and my work is never boring. I am so happy that I never gave up and continued my education to get to where I am today. I am also a senior at UNT working on my bachelor's degree with a major in criminal justice and a double minor in sociology and addiction rehabilitation. I hope to go to law school and work in family law as an amicus attorney (an attorney for children).

No matter what your situation is or what struggles you have, ACI is a great start to get you on the right path to success!!!!

Thank you so much ACI!

- April Lyons

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Legal Assistant Program Graduate

I just want to share a brief story about how going through the certification program at ACI has helped change my career path.

I found ACI in the phonebook, I think. I had been working various fast-food restaurant jobs for 5 years and was sick of it. Would you like a shake with those fries, sir? It was not my goal to make fast food service my life's work. I went through the Legal Assistant program for 9 months full-time. It was hard work, but I made one of my very best friends for life, Katrinia Burkehoff Olvera, through the program. A few months before I graduated, I began working in an office part-time. This was such a thrill to me. Graduating from ACI was the first step in changing my career path and moving on to a better life.

Thank you ACI for helping me change my career path.

- Barbara Kinsey

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Ann Dunkin

Hi, Jon!  Interviewing this particular group of students was a pleasure.  I’ve never seen such consistently pleasant, energetic and intelligent individuals all in one class!  They are also unusually realistic and objective – attributes I haven’t seen in paralegal students for a very long time…wherever they went to school.

I have to give kudos to Claudia, because the students’ resumes were several notches above what I’ve seen in the past. 

All in all, I don’t know how ya’ll could miss with this graduating class.  They will “do you proud.”

-Ann Dunkin

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A Chance to Change My Life

My name is Roger Strickland, I’m in my very late 30’s and I am finishing my last (3^rd) quarter at ACI. I spent 17 years in the Hospitality industry, 12 of that in management. I had hit a ceiling in my advancement opportunities in that industry due to never finishing college. The downward turn in the economy hit hotels and restaurants very hard. I was unemployed for almost 7 months. Through Texas Workforce, I entered into the WIA program. I was able to get assistance paying to go back to school.

I had decided on Paralegal because of the growth potential of the industry and the excitement of being part of a legal team helping people. I just needed to decide where to go. I was given several options, and as I took time to check in to each school ACI quickly became the front runner. The schools in Dallas were longer or shorter programs but the feel on campus was cold and uninviting. I looked at online courses, but I needed more structure, I found a great balance at ACI. The staff is amazing!!!! There is a sense of family at ACI because it is family owned. This trickles down through the staff to the students.

I would never have classified myself as a great student, but for the first time in my life, not only do I enjoy coming to school, but love all the great information I’m getting and looking forward to applying it in a good job and a great career. I have a 4.0 GPA for the first time in my life, I’m Vice-President of Student Council, and I look forward to being an example of what taking advantage of an opportunity at ACI can do for someone’s future.

I have made so many great friends, met tremendous mentors, and had lots of fun all at the same time. I recommend ACI to everyone I know and meet, that need to get that new or additional education. It has been not only a life changer but also a life saver.

- Roger Strickland

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ACI Student

I attended Arlington Career Institute August 2009 through May of 2010. While attending, I pursued my education in law by enrolling in the Paralegal program.  When I first came on campus, I was 18 years old, a mother of an eight-month-old baby boy and lost in life.  I felt like a failure because I wasn’t starting school with all of my friends and thought I had no options.  I signed up and enrolled just to say I was doing something and literally wandering around in my life.  At this point, a mother is all I knew I was capable of being anymore.

I quickly found myself surrounded by loving and caring staff who were interested in helping me in any aspect of my life. Everyone there went above and beyond to make sure I had resources available so that I could focus on my studies.  The program is laid out in a very unique and gentle style.  The professors were very accessible and open to help with each individual’s growth and knowledge.  Although I started feeling the opportunity that going through this program was offering me, I was not mentally present and barely passed the introduction to law classes.

In the second quarter, you have the same professor for all of your law-based classes.  This helps the professor understand each student’s progress and understanding of each subject.  Your studies move from the basic clerical skills to studying just law.  I started staying awake more and developing friendships with fellow students and staff.  Class quickly became an escape from my personal life; although, I missed at least one day of every week.  The professors and supporting staff were slowly chipping away at the wall of defeat I had put around myself and in place I was feeling more confident in class.  My grades were picking up and I soaked up the knowledge but still wasn’t sure how I was going to fit into the paralegal role.

Finally, you are in your third and final quarter.  You are in the in-house law office, Vecchio & Vecchio. Here you learn how to work a case beginning to end.  We were even allowed to help on live cases.  I blossomed in the last quarter and finally started grasping all concepts and putting everything I had learned together.  The strategy of the Lead Attorney in this class is very straightforward.  I embraced this style of teaching and started soaring to the top of our class.  My fellow students were puzzled how the girl that was sleeping first quarter is now the one they are asking questions to.

To me, the answer is very simple:  The people at ACI didn’t give up on me.  They took me on as a challenge and ended up changing my life.  I now have a great career working in this field with great pay and benefits.  My son now has a mother he can depend on and our family has a bright future.  I am currently enrolled in college classes to pursue my next success of becoming a college graduate and then an attorney.

I cannot express how deeply the school and the people there have impacted my life.  I developed a relationship with each staff member and professor in the school, even the ones that did not teach in the field I was studying.  The Vecchio family has extended their family values into the school and law office.  The entire staff truly cares about each student and offer guidance to any person that enters their building.  This gave me a chance to be who I wanted to be.  I know that no matter where life takes me, I will not only have my education but an entire family at ACI backing me up and rooting me on.

- ACI student

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Got the job

I got the job Mrs. Stapleton “HAHAHAHAHA TOLD YOU I WOULD DO IT” I start August 24, 2011.  I have to take my drug test in the morning.  They hired me so fast it was crazy.  She asked some tricky questions, but because of what was discussed in your class I answered those questions so smooth you would’ve been proud… The hiring manager was very impressed, so impressed that they made me an offer today, and from what I understand they never do that.  They usually tell an applicant that they will give them a call, and then escort them out.  I nailed the sucker hahahaha.  Thank you for your help Mrs. Stapleton.

- Damon Sims

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Bertha Alicia Ruiz

Hi Claudia... Just wanted to say thank you for helping me out in realizing which law firm I should go to after I finished school… even though I was a bit hard headed at the beginning… February will be my 2 year anniversary at the same firm, and at this moment, I still don’t plan on going anywhere… Just wanted to say thank you for believing in me and for your guidance… I was actually going thru the roughest time in my life, and I thank God for you and everyone else who believed in me… Thank you again…

- Bertha Alicia Ruiz

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