Where learning doesn’t stop

Tucked away in a neighborhood near the Murdy Community Center, the Huntington Beach Adult School teaches thousands of students everything from English to yoga to medical insurance billing practices.

The school has about 60 sites throughout Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster, said Pam Daugherty, who handles the school’s fiscal services. About 13,000 to 15,000 students attend the school’s different programs and classes in a given year.

“I love to come here every day,” said student Julie Tran. “I’m going to be a nurse. Right now I’m learning English and computers.”

The school held a fundraiser Wednesday for upcoming California Council for Adult School events.

“The council’s a social as well as a professional organization, and we offer two conferences a year,” Daugherty said. “This fundraiser will send people to these conferences.”

Vendors sold Tupperware, Cookie Lee jewelry and hand-painted wine glasses; a large used book sale table sat alongside a variety of baked goods for sale.

“This event is an annual affair,” Daugherty said.

Tran was at the event buying books for her two small children, who are both voracious readers, she said.

Araceli Berrelleza, who started attending the school in 2007, plans to get her cosmetology license once she improves her English; she has a cosmetology certificate in Mexico.

Part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, Huntington Beach Adult School shares a campus with Coast High School, which emphasizes independent study.

Anyone ages 16 and older can enroll at the adult school; most have no tuition fees, and classes like basic skills, citizenship and English as a Second Language have no registration fees.

Other classes range from a popular medical assisting program, to woodworking to parent education.

Students can work toward a GED or adult diploma; many go on to study at Golden West College, just down the street.

A full range of classes for older adults includes topics like the art of film, or surrealism and dream imagery, as well as a host of physical education classes.

“We have been in existence for about 35 years,” Daugherty said. “People say we’re the best-kept secret in Huntington Beach.”

But that secret is about to become a little less out-of-sight; a recent bond measure put away funds for the school’s first permanent building, which will be on the Ocean View High School campus.

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.