For 43-year-old Marvin Sandoval, the journey to earning his high school diploma started in his home country of Guatemala. When he left home to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers and immigrate to the United States, Marvin was just 17—and had not been to school in a number of years.

“In Guatemala, education is only free through middle school,” Marvin says. “I am the youngest of nine sons; my family did not have money to pay for my studies.”

Soon after arriving in the U.S., Marvin found employment with McDonald’s—a company he’s proud to still work for more than 25 years later.

Education that works for the full-time employee
During that time, completing his high school education was never far from Marvin’s mind. Yet, many of the avenues he explored felt more like dead ends. “I pursued various adult education opportunities, including the GED, but I struggled to complete them while working.”

Through a McDonald’s restaurant employee benefit, Marvin enrolled in Career Online High School (COHS). “COHS was the perfect solution,” he says. “The program allowed me to juggle work and family—and complete assignments at my own pace.”

Finding success through academic support
Flexibility is just one of the aspects of COHS that helped Marvin achieve his academic goals. He also credits both his manager at McDonald’s and his COHS Academic Coach with helping him stay motivated throughout his program.

“My COHS coach was so supportive, always sending me messages of encouragement,” he says. “She would tell me: ‘Even though it feels like no one is watching, I am here.’ Those messages kept the fire in me.”

Completing his degree wasn’t without its challenges. Marvin often felt like he was starting his education from scratch, having no school records or transfer credits to build upon. He recalls the many nights he’d fall asleep with his computer on his chest, exhausted from working but eager to stay on the path to graduation.

He persevered—and his hard work paid off. He completed all 18 credits, four months ahead of schedule. “Looking back, I know my coach’s support made all the difference.”

A stepping stone to what comes next
Today, not only is Marvin a valued area supervisor for five McDonald’s restaurants, he’s a proud graduate of the COHS program.

“Earning my high school diploma has given me a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Next, I plan to continue my education with a focus on criminal justice.”

And as for Marvin’s family? “My 83-year-old mother is my inspiration—she learned to read at the age of 63,” he shares. “She’s so proud to hang my graduation photo on her wall for everyone to see.”

​Smart Horizons Career Online High School (SHCOHS) is part of the world’s first accredited private, national online school district. SHCOHS offers affordable, career-based online high schools that serve adults and young adults who need high school diplomas in order to access better career and educational opportunities. The SHCOHS is a NexPort Solutions Partner and their program is managed and delivered using the NexPort Learning Management Platform.

​Our team has decades of experience assisting organization in delivering their training online. Our Learning Management Platform, NexPort, is trusted by Fortune 500 Companies and educational institutions, managing millions of enrollments. NexPort is a high availability, cloud based service that allows our partners to host one or many campuses. NexPort Analytics allows in-depth analysis of student behavior and progress while NexPort Campus allows partners to manage students, instructors, and curriculum for online delivery. To learn more about what we can do for your organization contact us today.

OKLAHOMA CITY – June 5, 2014 – Walmart has partnered with Career Online High School to provide a free online course to Walmart Stores, Inc, employees via the NexPort Campus learning management system. Upon successful completion of the first COHS course within NexPort Campus, employees 18 years of age or older will have the opportunity to request full access to the COHS program. The COHS program allows employees to complete their high school education and an industry skills certification of their choice. Read more ...

PENSACOLA, FLA. — June 27, 2013 — Smart Horizons Career Online Education (SHCOE) announces its partnership with the Treasure Coast Division of the Children's Home Society of Florida. This partnership enables homeless youth and young adults, ages 18 to 23, to access SHCOE's leading-edge online courses through CHS's transitional living program. Headquartered in Port St. Lucie, Florida, the Treasure Coast CHS serves more than 12,000 youth and their families each year in Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties. The SHCOE program is available to the 150-200 young adults who participate annually in the transitional living program. 

Treasure Coast CHS's transitional living clients reside in a youth transition center, located in Vero Beach, FL, where they complete their courses in an onsite learning lab. The program is also available to nonresidential clients, who can access their online courses from any computer.

NexPort Solutions has come a long way from its rather humble beginnings in 2002.  Back then, it was all we could do to keep the Distributed Content Management System (DCMS) up-and-running, and meeting customer requirements.  However, the insights gained through that experience proved extremely valuable as we progressed from a hybridized platform to a model-view-controller architecture.  With each release, NexPort matured and the NexPort Solutions organization matured with it.  The pending release of NexPort 5.0 positions NexPort for compatibility with emerging technologies (e.g., cloud-based delivery, HTML5).