Street roots
7
June 20, 2014
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GED, from page 3
myself in a box for a long time.”
The doser Silvia got to being finishing
her GED, the more she got scared.
Teachers took her aside, asked her why she
failed tests even though she had mastered •
the lessons. They called her at home to
make sure she was OK.
“The love they showed me there - it
made me realize I wasn’t going through tins
by myself,” Silvia said.
Through therapy, Silvia realized she had
internalized the harsh words family
members had said to her during her years of'
drug abusé. “I retained some of those things
and believed I wasn’t capable,” she said.
But it turns out she’s very capable: Silvia
received her GED certificate last year and
went on to Portland Community College,
where she promptly made the Dean’s List -
meaning her grades averaged at least 3.5,
out of a possible 4.
She’s thinking about going on to Portland
State University once she completes her
classes at PCC to get a degree in social
work. Silvia wants to pass on the help she
received in these last four years of recovery.
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said. “Now I comprehend what I’m reading.”
“Most students come in at a pretty low
reading level,” said Scholl, the center’s
manager. “High-level readers may only take
one month to get their GED.”
About one-third of all prospective.
students arrive at Londer with an eighth-
grade skill level in the main subjects, Scholl
said. The others test below that level.
About half of the students who are at an
eighth-grade level initially graduate in the
same year they start classes. The rest take a
little longer.
The center offers classes at just about any
pace,. Jo accommodate the yarious needs
among its population. A lot of students come
in for intense classes four days a week. But
it’s possible to go less frequently, too.
Nobody denies that it’s hard at first to go
back to school.
“My first three months, I had a
headache,” Silvia said. “I think it was brain
cells trying to reawaken.”
Center graduation
’'. Her son, Marcus, graduated from
Proud parents
the crowd, grinning broadly. “You’re
unstoppable.”
Progress, not perfection
Current graduate Timothy Pool also plans
on giving back.
One of the speakers at the June 6
ceremony, Pool said being back in school felt
to him like having a second chance in life.
“I ’d never completed nothing - ever,” Pool
said to center staff at the graduation event. .
Pool, 37, said that he started using drugs
during his senior year in high school. He
dropped out of school and “chose drugs and
crime,” spending years in and out of jail.
He got clean in 1998 and fixed up his life,
but a car wreck in 2004 put him in anine-
day coma. He left the hospital and became
addicted to the painkiller oxycodone. Last
year he' Checked himseW into a treatment
center. After his initial treatment, a
counselor at Impact NW, where Pool
received transition services, suggested he
gèt his GED.
After finishing his classes at Londer last
winter, he’s now oh the President’s List at
PCC — at least a 3.75 grade average — and
plans to go to PSU to get a master’s in
social science. He wants to work with young
families who are struggling.
In his speech at the graduation ceremony,
CHALLENGES, from page 3
analysis in their own words, -with little
multiple-choice options left in the reading
section.
There is more algebra and math beyond
basic algebra. And throughout, the test
asks more critical thinking of its takers. It
will prepare students better for college and
the workplace, its creators say.
The manager of the Londer Learning
Center agrees, to a point
“The GED needed to change,” Carole
Scholl said, “It needed to catch up.”
But with the changes comes the need
for more classroom time. Adults who
dropped out in eighth grade decades ago
how are faced with more complex lessons
and test questions. The numbers won’t be
in until next year, but Scholl estimates that
her students will now take two to three
times longer to finish their GED.
The catch? There’s no extra money for
adult learning centers to go with the extra
work. Students won’t rotate through as
The first day
P H O T O B Y J A C Q U E S V O N LU N Ç N
Guillermo Hernandez was one o f 125 adult
students'to receive his GED certificate from
Londer Learning Center this monthf
Pool gave out some advice to his classmates
and those in the audience looking to change
their lives. He recommended they surround
themselves with people who live the way
they’d like to live. He suggested getting over
one’s ego and choosing “progress, not
perfection.” And not to give up on miracles.
“Even a deadbeat drug addict like me can
get a GED and go on to college,” Pool told
Pool finished his classés at Londer fairly
quickly, in just four months. Silvia took
more than two years.
It all depends on how much students .
remember from their previous schooling 7
and how much work they can put in now.
The first step at Londer - and any other
GED-prep program - is a placement test. It
can be an intimidating exam after decades
away from school.
That first day, it was scary,” Silvia said.
“They handed me a piece of paper with
some math problems and I thought, 'Oh, my
god!’”
But she was excited, too, about the new
beginning. And she discovered a Jove for
Writing during her classes, even though it
had always been a struggle for her before.
Pool realized he’d never properly learned
how to read. He had never finished a book
until he read the Narcotics Anonymous and
Alcoholics Anonymous books during his
treatment last year.
The newfound skill changed his life, “A lot
of these things I failed in high school that
were intimidating nowmade sense,” Pool
quickly, which means slots won’t open up
extra students, however, did not drain the
as often. But expanding the program isn’t
center’s budget, because each student
an option, financially.
directed a little bit of federal , money to the
“I think we’ll have
center.
fewer grads,” Scholl
In 2010, The
said, “Changing the
Oregon Health
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as
a
GED was a really big
Authority received a
r e a lly b ig d e a l, y e t n o t
deal, yet not enough
federal grant called
people thought about
Access to Recovery.
e n o u g h p e o p le th o u g h t
how it will impact
The $3.3 million grant
a b o u t h o w i t w illh e p a c t
people who need
has allowed the state
p
e
o
p
le
w
h
o
need
e
x
tra
extra support,”
agency to increase
The center also will s u p p o rt,”
services for people
be affected by a cut in
. — CAROLE SCHOLL
MAN/W^EA, uQND£.f> LCAfiN^iG recovering from
federal money to state
GLNTCi? addiction in seven
health departments.
Oregon counties,
Until now, the center
including Multnomah
took in not just
County.
parolees, its original clients (the center is
Part of that grant paid for sending
part of Multnomah County’s Department
adults in recovery back to school — at
of Community Justice), but also adults
Londer. And that grant is running out in
recovering from drug addiction.
September, shutting down these extra
These adults in, or just out of,
services in Oregon, said Denise Yale,
treatment were referred to the center by
services coordinator for Access to
the Portland nonprofit, Impact NW. Those
Recovery.
The successes of these GED graduates
affect more than one generation. The
conference room at the Multnomah building
was filled with students in cap and gown
holding infants, grandmothers wiping away
tears and fathers sitting tall next to sons.
Markos Ellis’ father had traveled up from
Texas to watch his son recieve not only a
GED certificate but a special award for
being among the top three students in his
class. Ellis had been referred to the center
by his probation officer.
Another student’s voice cracked as she
talked about how much her grandmother
had wanted to see her graduate. “Now she’s
gone,” the woman said quietly. “But it’s very
important that the kids are here to see
this.”
Studies have shown that children of high
school'dropouts are lessJikely to’fmish ’
school, Scholl said. Anecdotally, it seems
that the opposite is true also.
A week after Silvia graduated from the
Londer Center, her oldest son, Marcus,
called her and asked how he could get his
GED. He sat next to his mother on June 6,
wearing cap and gown, after taking
advantage of last year’s weekend offerings at
Londer.
“I’m so proud of my baby,” Silvia said.
The agency applied for the next round
of the grant, but has not heard back, which
doesn’t bode well for success. Only five
agencies nationwide will receive money
this round, Yale said. Last time 30 did.
Losing the federal grant will cut funding
for about 10 percent of the Londer
Learning Center’s students, Scholl said.
Center staff is working on a proposal to
allow nonprofits to pay a small fee to sign
up students, Scholl said.
“That federal money has allowed tis to
serve a population in need of special
support,” she said. “We’re trying to figure
out other, solutions (to continue to serve)
people in recovery.”
I f you are looking to get your GED, and
are not on probation or in drug/alcohol
treatment, a good place to start is PCC.
You can find out more about its low-cost
GED program by calling 971-722-6255 or
going to www.pcc.edu/prepare/basic.