From Never Giving Up to Always Giving to Others: CAEL's 2018 Adult Learner of the Year Is Using His Award To Make Everyone a Winner

Rashaan Green, the 2018 winner of CAEL's Adult Learner of the Year Award, hasn't rested on his laurels since claiming that distinction. If anything, his growing list of accomplishments has only strengthened the never-give-up spirit that garnered him the award in the first place. To understand why, it's important to know that Green views every advance in his own education and career pathway as a trailblazing opportunity for inspiring others. His story is one of personal persistence and a resolve to pay it forward. It makes for an apt illustration of the continuum of individual, partner, and systemic outcomes. As CAEL caps its 50th anniversary year, it also makes a fitting highlight within its special edition impact report, which was released this week.

Green grew up in an underserved neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina. Diagnosed with ADHD, he was dismissed as a "troubled kid" by teachers. "I remember being in a class one day and the teacher told me, 'You're just not going to amount to anything--ever--in life," he recalled in a 2018 Western Governors University (WGU) blog. In the ninth grade, Green dropped out of school.

Working as a dishwasher, he watched his mother, who had lupus, face down her own challenges as an adult learner. Despite working full time, she also attended college. Inspired by her perseverance, Green resolved to do the same. He completed a GED credential and followed it with a B.S. in business information technology management from WGU. In 2018, he received his master of science in cybersecurity and information assurance, also from WGU. It was the capstone to his story thus far, the triumph that clinched Learner of the Year.

That triumph didn't come without tragedies. Green's father passed away during the final semester of his undergraduate program. His grandmother, whom Green described as his best friend when he was growing up, was in hospice when he graduated with his master's degree. Her illness weighed heavy on his mind as he prepared his commencement address. She passed away a few weeks after graduation.

For Green, going from high school dropout to being named Adult Learner of the Year while facing such adversity was proof he could do anything he resolved. So he resolved it would prove a whole lot more. "Even though it's my story, it technically doesn't belong to me," he said. "It's a testimony that I'm supposed to give to other people, and it's supposed to inspire other people."

"I remember being in my house in 2013 and the lights being turned off and me not having the money to make the ends meet to get the lights back on," he said. "Even in that moment I remember saying a prayer and saying, 'Hey, God, if You can just bless me to be a blessing to others.' And so being able to be a blessing in my own life to others is like bringing things full circle."  

Thanks to his degrees, Green swiftly progressed in the IT career he had begun pursuing following his GED credential. But some of Green's patented persistence was required. A major opportunity presented itself when Microsoft reached out to him. But the timing was suboptimal. It was January of 2020. "I was supposed to go to Seattle to do an interview, then COVID happened, so I wasn't able to go," said Green. "I just kept on being persistent. I kept on sending messages to the recruiter." 

By August, he had landed the job. It changed the trajectory of this career. In January of 2023, he left one tech giant for another, taking on greater responsibilities in a role with Google. But it wasn't before following through on his resolve to help others replicate his success at Microsoft. He worked with WGU to start a scholarship. "I mainly focused on low-income students that were probably going to be removed from the program if they didn't have the financial aid," said Green. To date, it's helped around 100 recipients. 

Green created a similar program at Google, where he has been able to contribute even more of his own money, which Google and WGU matched. "The total amount, when it's all said and done, will be about $25,000," said Green, and sustain a perpetually funded account.

Green's education and career pathways have taken him falling short on utility payments to purchasing a second home. But the results he is most proud of are the scholarships and sharing his story. "I've always been a person that likes to be private," he said. "But I feel like what happened in 2018, for me, was that I was able to see how impactful my story was. That's the most important part about my whole entire life story, to make sure that I'm motivating others because there are definitely other people that have been through my situation -- or even worse -- and need to have some form of an example that your dream still can come true. You just have to put the work in."

It's a message Green shares every chance he gets. He regularly speaks at conferences, such as Techsgiving and BLK Men In Tech. His advice to adult learners and workers boils down to "Where you start does not dictate where you finish." But getting there, he also tells them, requires "tunnel vision" to remain focused on the next task ahead in a continually shifting employment landscape.

He wishes that vision included resources that are typically hidden in plain sight. Community colleges often offer free or discounted IT programs, but many people are not aware of them. Workers, Green said, should take advantage of work-based education and training programs -- yet another preaching that he practices. He's completed several industry certifications through employers. In fact, next year he will add yet another degree to his portfolio -- a doctor of business administration in information technology. Google benefits will cover most of the costs. 

But perhaps his most important piece of advice is to add to the momentum he's working to build. "I hope that people that do receive the the scholarship are able to do the same thing to others as well, to give back," he said. "Because that's what it's really all about. Without education, I would not be where I am today. Education, I believe, pulls people out of poverty."

Green plans to keep leading by example, growing his philanthropy along with his career. He has his eyes on one last (so he says) credential after his doctorate: a chief information security officer certificate program at Carnegie Mellon. And he plans to teach, which he describes as another form of giving back. If that's the case, he's already given back just in sharing his story. 

And if he ever needs a reminder of how inspirational that story is? "Anytime that I'm feeling a certain way, I have the award in my office," he said. "And that award has literally been one of the things that has allowed me to say, 'Okay,  you can do anything you put your mind to it."

Rashaan's story joins several others highlighted in CAEL's latest annual impact report, now available at cael.org.