Education has no expiration
From Public Safety to Broadcasting: One Woman's Journey Back to College
After retiring from a 25-year career in public safety, Virginia wanted to go back to school to finish what she had started many years ago. A degree would open more doors as she launched the next chapter of her life and embarked on a whole new career.
She initially enrolled at Delta College after high school in 1989, but she wasn't quite ready to commit and eventually dropped out to work full-time. Soon, she was married, starting a family, and fully immersed in her career as a Stockton Fire Department dispatcher. In 2018, she was promoted to supervisor and served in that position until her retirement in 2024.
She decided to go back to college in 2025 and worked hard to complete her AA a year later. She was then accepted to San Diego State University through its online campus. Her major is communications, with a specialty in media, as she hopes to find a job in broadcasting.
Women of all ages can make a difference in any career, and Virginia wants to prove that a woman in her menopausal years can still be motivated to start Chapter 2.
Virginia Ordaz retired in 2024 as Senior Supervisor from Stockton Fire Dispatch after 25 years in public safety across multiple San Joaquin County agencies. Post-retirement, she earned her Associate of Arts in Communication and Media Studies at San Joaquin Delta College alongside her mother. Now pursuing a bachelor's degree at San Diego State University, Ordaz advocates for first responder mental health and…
