Student to receive high school diploma at Adult Education Services Graduation
April Yates, a full-time mother, employee and grandmother, decided it was time to achieve her long-time goal of earning her high school diploma.
“I wanted to get my GED for a long time,” she said. “I just didn’t know how and I definitely knew that I couldn’t afford it.”
At 44 years old, Yates finally earned her diploma after participating in the new non-traditional High School Diploma Option program at Gadsden State Community College. She will walk at the Adult Education Services graduation at 7 p.m. June 7 at the Wallace Hall Fine Arts Center.
Yates is one of over 500 Alabamians who took advantage of the new HSDO program, which was developed through a partnership between the Alabama Community College System and the Alabama State Department of Education. The program is for those who dropped out of high school without earning the required number of credits or failed portions of the now-retired graduation exam.
“The new program provides students an alternative to the GED test as the high school equivalency,” said Dr. Karen Blythe Smith, director of Adult Education Services at Gadsden State. “Because of the importance of the high school diploma credential in the workforce, this program creates another avenue that students can utilize to meet that goal.”
Yates failed to complete her high school diploma because she didn’t have anyone encouraging her to keep going when her classes got more difficult.
“I made a poor decision,” she said. “I didn’t have anyone pushing me to be better, so I just gave up.”
As a product of a low-income family, Yates did not believe she would ever be able to go back to school.
“My family was poor and I didn’t get the help I needed in high school,” she said. “It seemed like there were more reasons to give up than to stay. I wish I would have stayed because I always regretted it.”
Yates found out about the Gadsden State GED options in a classified ad in the newspaper.
“It felt like a sign,” she said. “The moment I saw the free GED class ad, I called Gadsden State. I knew I was going to change my life and my family’s lives.”
Yates called Gadsden State and was ready to start her classes the next week. She ran into one problem, however, she didn’t qualify for the grant that could pay for classes in the Skills Training Division’s Office Careers program.
“I just started crying,” she said. “I thought I had finally figured out how to change my life, and I ran into a roadblock.”
An instructor found a grant to pay for the Office Careers courses.
“That really showed me how much the people at Gadsden State care about me,” she said.
She had basic classes like math and English, but she also learned skills that many people take for granted in her Office Careers classes with instructor Baisha Woody.
“I didn’t know how to even turn a computer on before this class,” she said. “Now I have basic computer skills.”
She also completed requirements for Ready to Work and Career Pathways certification. Ready to Work provides a career pathway for adults with limited employment experiences through training in entry-level skills required for employment with most businesses and industries in Alabama. Occupational training is available through Career Pathways in a variety of fields, including Office Careers, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Automotive Services, Certified Nursing Assistant, Carpentry, Diesel Technology, Truck Driving, Welding and Medical Records.
Yates, who has been an employee of Burger King for 23 years, plans to get a new job now that she has her diploma and Ready to Work and Office Careers certifications. She plans to become a veterinary assistant or physical therapy assistant.
She hopes to see more people take advantage of Gadsden State’s HSDO program and believes there are many people like her that just need some encouragement.
“I don’t want to hear anyone say they can’t do it, because they can,” she said. “Don’t give up!”
