20
S moke S ignals
march 15, 2014
GeD test was first launched in 192
GED continued
from front page
start but drop out. Program leaders
never know who will be back and
who won’t.
Before the new requirements
kicked in nationally, the Tribe was
seeing 10 to 25 people a year earn-
ing their GED certificates. That
will be a tough act to follow now,
Simmons said.
The GED test was first launched
in 1942 as a boost to veterans whose
education was interrupted when
the United States joined World War
II. The test allowed thousands of
service members to get a credential
they could use to go on to college.
Since then, its reach has grown
dramatically. By 1958, there were
more civilians taking the test than
veterans. Today, it’s known to some
as “America’s Largest High School.”
Thanks to government incentives,
the test has become a ticket to
some federal jobs programs, college
grants, and, for prisoners, a chance
to get out of jail a little sooner.
The GED test has been revised
over the years, but in 2014 it un-
derwent a complete overhaul,
becoming more difficult and more
expensive. For years, the GED test
was dismissively called the “Good
Enough Diploma” because passing
the test was so much easier than
earning a traditional high school
diploma. Now it’s been aligned with
more rigorous college and career
readiness standards and will be far
more difficult.
Into early March, the Tribal pro-
gram has only seen one certificate
awarded. David Garren, 29, of Sa-
lem took the tests and passed all of
them in little more than a month
after beginning to study for it at the
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
David Garren is the first Tribal member to earn a General educational
Development certificate under the new, more difficult requirements.
start of January. The time would
have been even shorter if not for the
early February snowstorm that put
the last test off a few weeks.
Garren ended his high school
career after his junior year owing
to a substance abuse problem, but
in the last year, he said, “I just
knew I needed it. The 477 Program
required me to get it. I had already
started it and it was something I
wanted to get.”
Before the new requirements and
more difficult test began, Garren
had taken the pre-test for the easier
requirements and did “extremely
well” on it.
When he came to Simmons at the
beginning of this year, they worked
on standard deviation, the only
question Garren had missed in the
math section, and then signed up
for the test.
“I saw him one time and felt
pretty confident,” Garren said.
Today, he already is in the pro-
CTGR Fish Distribution
Natural Resources Department
Fish Lab
47010 SW Hebo Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
(503)879-2424
GRAND RONDE LIVING and ENROLLED
TRIBAL MEMBERS
Must show current photo I.D.
Thursday, April 17, 2014 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday, April 18, 2014 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
All salmon must go in preparation of more fish. Once the salmon is gone, it is gone.
Unfortunately, we are unable to deliver to the satellite offices this distribution.
If picking up for others, a signed release form will be required!
No early or late pickup
Fish will NOT be mailed
If you have any questions please call the Natural Resources
Department at 503-879-2424.
Elders will have a special line established to expediently fill their requests. To ensure this,
only Elder orders will be filled using this line. Thank you for understanding and
consideration of others.
2014 Salmon Distribution Release Form
I
give
Signature of Tribal Member:
, Roll Number
,
permission to pick up my salmon.
Date:
cess of signing up for automotive
classes at Chemeketa Community
College. He said he has been work-
ing on cars “all my life.”
“It was a quite an accomplish-
ment,” he said. “It showed me that
I can actually do this. It gave me
confidence that I could go forth and
succeed.”
Seventeen-year-old Promiss Kel-
logg had passed two of four tests by
early March, and was confident she
would pass the others.
Family issues had her travel-
ling between her parents’ homes,
and she finally decided earlier this
year to come back to Grand Ronde,
where she lives with her grandpar-
ents and is earning her GED.
“It’s pretty easy,” Kellogg said.
She had passed the language arts
and social studies tests in the previ-
ous two weeks and she was headed
to her science test after class that
day. “My only difficulty is math,
algebra,” she said.
Kellogg does not intend to use her
GED for college, as some do, but to
succeed in the workforce. After she
earns her certificate, she plans to go
back to Las Vegas to live with her
mother, get a job in retail and work
toward her ultimate goal of working
in a retirement home.
In a way, she lives in a retirement
home now, with her grandparents,
Patsy and Joe Kellogg.
“It’s nice to have her back,” said
Patsy, who accompanied Promiss to
class and was supporting her effort
on the science and social studies
test after class. “It’s temporary, but
it’s nice having her.”
Often enough, would-be students
start when they come out of reha-
bilitation, Simmons said. “They’re
fired up for about two weeks, and
then you won’t see them for weeks
or not at all. It’s the cycle of trying
and not doing well,” he said.
Kenneth Martin, 40, dropped out
of Dallas High School in the 11th
grade.
“I was young and hanging out
with the wrong crowd, really,”
Martin said.
He now works for the city of Dal-
las fixing roads on a work crew,
and is one of those who started the
GED program and was interrupted
by substance abuse.
He began the GED program in
the middle of last year and dropped
out when he went into rehab in De-
cember. He came out after 30 days
and resumed his studies.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he
said. And he was influenced by his
younger brother, Christopher Mar-
tin, who earned a GED and now is
attending Chemeketa Community
College while working in the Tribe’s
Social Services Department.
“His influence got me to go and
get my GED,” he said. He feels
pretty confident that he will suc-
ceed. “I’m clean and sober now,” he
said. “Now I have more motivation.
It’s kind of fun now, too.”
The 477 Program is a big help,
he said, “and giving me a lot of
support.”
On the other hand, he has no illu-
sions about the difficult road ahead.
“It’s a little harder than I thought.
It wasn’t as intense as last year. I
have to work a little harder, but
yeah, I’m going to stick with it.”
“You even need a GED to work at
McDonald’s,” said Rachel Lucas, 39.
She dropped out of school in eighth
grade. “I was a rebellious teenager,”
she said, “tired of learning and I
was going to be a mom. I didn’t re-
ally care about it until now.”
Her mother went back for her
GED at the age of 50 and became
an inspiration to Rachel.
“I’d like to have it for college,”
she said, “and for business. I want
to stop putting walls up without an
education.”
Lucas said her husband also has
gone his life without a high school
diploma, but he has no interest in
one. As a construction and land-
scaping worker, he says he can get
jobs without one.
Their four children, however, all
either have high school diplomas
or are working at them. “They’ve
seen me struggle with trying to find
jobs,” she said, “and I always told
them to stay in school and get your
education.”
Meanwhile, Simmons is on the
blackboard with fraction prob-
lems: numerators, denominators,
improper fractions. “Reduce and
simplify,” he says.
Students work on their own in
the Learning Lab from 1 to 3 p.m.
Mondays and Wednesdays and 9:30
a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thurs-
days. The program is housed in the
Tribe’s Adult Education Division.
Simmons said that for students
who do not graduate high school,
and want to, the GED program is
their only option.
A Bureau of Indian Affairs grant
pays for Chemeketa courses and
testing fees, Simmons said, reduc-
ing the cost of the program for
students.
Success to Simmons is more than
just the certificate here in Grand
Ronde. “We’d like to get them up
and on board to help build com-
munity,” he said. On the most im-
mediate level, he is talking about
the course. “When you’re doing frac-
tions, there’s no reason to struggle
alone.”
On another level, though, Sim-
mons said he is talking about the
larger community and the valuable
role that better educated and fully
employed citizens play.
Interested in starting work to-
ward a GED? Contact Kevin Sim-
mons at 503-879-1345. n