DALTON, Ga. — Xochitl Chavez says that although her journey hasn’t always been easy, her decision to move from her home in Mexico to Dalton alongside her husband nearly 17 years ago has allowed her to accomplish her own version of the “American Dream.”

Chavez is the general manager of the McDonald’s on Cleveland Highway. She recently had her story shared nationally by the company as promotion for its English Under the Arches program. The program, which helps McDonald’s employees learn English and improve their communication in the language, enabled Chavez to work her way into her current position where she oversees a store that has revenues of $4 million per year and employs 69.

She was 27 and didn’t understand a word of English when she came to Dalton in 2000. Her husband had visited the city before but she had never been here.

“It was scary. I was really scared because I didn’t know anybody,” Chavez said recently while taking at break at the store. “Do you remember the McDonald’s that was in the very back of the Wal-Mart (on Walnut Avenue)? When I started there it was with only American people. I was the only Spanish person in 2000.”

Because no one around her spoke Spanish, it obviously caused some issues on the job, and Chavez believed it was important that she learn to speak English. She learned a little bit here and there and practiced every day, but the McDonald’s program allowed her to take classes and become more fluent.

With her improving language skills, Chavez made her way up the leadership ladder, from crew member to shift manager to assistant manager, spending time at the Walnut Avenue location and a store in Ringgold before landing at her current position on Cleveland Highway.

She was able to earn a GED and is now taking college business courses online through Georgia Northwestern Technical College. She hopes to one day obtain a higher supervisory role in the company. She credits the English Under the Arches program for her success.

“It has truly improved my career at McDonald’s,” Chavez said, before adding, “I stayed as an assistant manager for nine years. When I started the program and started speaking more English I was able to go to general manager. That has been almost five years.”

She notes that because she was an adult and needed to work full time it would have been impossible for her to go to school or find time to study without the assistance of the McDonald’s program.

The program is organized into levels, with level one addressing basics like speaking and conversation, level two targeting reading and writing skills, and so on. Chavez said she knows more than a dozen McDonald’s employees who started the first level just this month.

“It gives you the ability to learn English and move up in the company,” she said. “Because you feel more comfortable when you’re talking to the boss, and it says, ‘Hey, I’m here for the opportunity.'”

An added benefit of learning the language is that Chavez now feels more comfortable in everyday life, she said, because she can read the newspaper, use coupons, speak with doctors or other service providers, and perhaps, most importantly, always knows what her children are saying.

With her husband, Martin Herrera, Chavez has two adult children, Jesus and Laura, and is expecting her first grandchild in April.