A Golden Ticket to a Brighter Future – No Longer “A Dream Deferred”

By Stephanie L. Sharp

As A-B Tech’s GED students walk into the testing room of the Pines building, they must present to the chief examiner the program’s official permission to test; a “gold slip.” These coveted “gold slips” are evidence of students’ knowledge of the test’s content and one of their successes along the pathway to obtaining a GED.

Each student in the Adult Basic Education/ GED Preparation/ Adult High School program area faces unique learning and life challenges. At any given moment in the Pines building’s Learning Lab, you can see students working in math software on the computer or receiving tutoring in writing skills from a skilled instructor. The approach: instructors design the delivery of the material to fit the individual student’s areas of need and his learning styles and preferences.


GED instructor Wallace Bohanon tutors a student preparing to take a test in the Pines building’s Learning Lab.

Yvette
Singleton, a mother of four children and resident of west Asheville’s
Pisgah View Apartments, is currently working towards her GED. She has
completed four of the five tests with only math remaining. Singleton
worked closely with instructor Wallace Bohanan during a course held in
early 2006 at Pisgah View Apartments. Singleton says of Bohanan, “he
was an amazing teacher, coming regularly out to Pisgah View and
tutoring us so that we made progress.”

The
GED program is within the department of Basic Skills/ Human Resources
Development and within the division of Continuing Education. One of the
goals of this program area is to present instruction in an invitational
manner. Courses are offered at nine locations within Buncombe and
Madison Counties.

The program is implementing two additional
initiatives in 2007 in order to target underserved populations. In
Deaverview Apartments, the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville
has collaborated with the GED program in order to transport interested
individuals to the Pines building for intake. In Hillcrest Apartments,
the same partnership has been pre-testing residents of Hillcrest so
that they may work on-line in the computer lab at the community center
there.

Latisha
Collington, another mother of four children and recent GED graduate,
notes that the program is ideal for those with other responsibilities
to juggle while trying to further their education. “I used the computer
software for math and the instructors sent me home with books to
refresh my memory. Everyone was very enthusiastic and encouraging and I
even surprised myself with my ability.”

Collington feels that the
flexible scheduling and positive experience with instructors and
administrators helped contribute to her success.

In
addition to attending courses in the region, students may complete
class work on-line through the program’s computer tutorial, Skills
Tutor. Although students must come in to the Pines building for all
testing, Skills Tutor allows students with transportation or scheduling
difficulties to work at their own pace and still receive phone support
from an instructor.


Several
classes are designed to meet the needs of students with specific
learning challenges. For three years now small group instruction
classes have been offered to qualifying students. This learning
environment offers a lower teacher-to-student ratio and a quieter
learning environment for students with learning disabilities.


New
since fall of 2006, non-native speakers of English wishing to pursue
their GED and/or prepare for college can enroll in a course taught by
instructor Irma Woody who has extensive experience in both the GED and
ESL program areas. Due to the high demand for both of these classes
students are placed on a waiting list until space becomes available.


Among
the many reasons students choose to enter the GED program there seems
to run a common vein: self-improvement. Students enter the program to
brush up on their language and math skills, to obtain a degree that
will qualify them for better employment, and to increase their chances
of earning higher wages. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that
those who have a high school diploma, including those with a GED
credential, earn $158 per week more than those who did not graduate
from high school.


Chris
Jeter, resident of Livingston Street and a 2006 graduate from A-B
Tech’s GED program, is not going to let his self-improvement stop here.
Jeter is a recipient of the spring 2007 College Bridge Scholarship
which provides financial assistance to GED graduates wishing to enroll
in A-B Tech’s curriculum programs. He is working towards his life-long
dream of becoming an audio engineer.

Jeter
worked closely with instructor Carol Meehan at Joblink. Meehan says
that Jeter “showed a lot of perseverance and did not give up easily. I
think he is seeing the other side of the world now with his GED
successfully completed.”


Singleton,
Collington, and Jeter are shining examples of the many students who
worked their way, one gold slip at a time, toward the completion of the
GED program. They are juggling all of life’s challenges in order to
further their education. Singleton provides these words of wisdom to
others looking to pursue their GED, “There will be obstacles and
struggles in between; but it is so worth it. Do not let anything stand
in the way of bettering yourself and becoming a positive contributor to
society.”


For more information about
A-B Tech’s GED program call 254-1921, extension 433.