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Low-income adults, not just college students, should get a shot at a liberal arts education.

That's the idea behind the national Clemente Course, which received a humanities award from President Barack Obama on Thursday. In Utah, about 500 students have taken a version of the class known as Venture.

The Utah Humanities Council's adaptation has just as profound an effect as its national counterpart, said Jean Cheney, the council's associate director.

"People who have had the humanities in their lives," Cheney said, "tend to take for granted what it does for them." Studying history, philosophy and art, she said, "encourages reflection and understanding of the past and present, and an appreciation of the bigger world we all belong to."

Utah Humanities works with instructors from Weber State University, Westminster College and Southern Utah University to offer the accredited evening courses in philosophy, art history, literature, American history and writing. If successful, students earn course credit from the institutions.

In Washington, D.C., winners of the 2014 National Humanities Medal included writers Larry McMurtry and Jhumpa Lahiri, plus the architect Everett Fly and food activist Alice Waters. They were picked by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the president.

The ten recipients have "deepened the nation's understanding of the human experience," helped people to delve into history and created better access to cultural resources, according to an NEH news release.

On a more personal level, studying the humanities helps students find their own voices and speak with more confidence, Cheney said.

Lilia Ortiz agrees, calling the course "a life changing experience" that led her to enroll in the medical assistant program at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), where she got a partial scholarship. Ortiz plans to graduate in May 2016.

It is a career path she previously considered impossible.

Growing up as an older sister in a single-parent household, Ortiz felt she had to prioritize helping her mom instead of school. She did not apply for scholarships or financial aid, she said via email, because she believed she would not qualify.

"As years passed," Ortiz wrote, "the dream of going back to school became almost unreachable."

Ortiz said her perspective changed when she heard about the program from a coordinator at Head Start, the education program for low-income families. She enrolled in a literature class at 32 years old. Reading, discussing and writing about "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, among other works, helped her in more than just academics, she said.

"It gave me acceptance in learning that at 32 years old you can still go to school, that individuals with the same background as me have options and opportunities, that is never too late to get a higher education and accomplish your goals."

Venture, she said, motivated her to pursue a college degree.

Twitter: @anniebknox —

Learn more

For more information on the Venture program or to apply for classes, visit http://www.utahhumanities.org/index.php/Center-for-Educational-Access/venture-course.html.