In the photos, from left to right, are Virginia Moore after the ceremony, Carol Moder receiving her diploma from Scott Hafield, and Charlotte Evans and her daughters after the ceremony.

GED graduates honored at ceremony

The Athens County Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) Program honored its 2010-2011 graduates during a Friday, June 3 ceremony and also heard from three special speakers during the evening.

The ABLE program is coordinated by the Athens County Job and Family Services Work Station and has helped 67 area residents receive their GEDs in the last year. And by the time the school year concludes at the end of June, the program likely will have more than 70 graduates. Over the last several years, the program has averaged more than 70 graduates per year.

Each June, all of the graduates from the academic year are invited to a Graduation Program held at Chauncey Elementary School in their honor. The Work Station coordinates the event and always provides special music and a dinner for the graduates and their families.  Sixteen of the graduates took part in this year’s event, and a crowd of around 100 was on hand to salute the graduates for all of their hard work.

“You all achieved a milestone,” said Joe McGowan, director of The Work Station, during the ceremony. “We are all very proud of you.”

The three main speakers for the day were three members of the graduating class, Fiona Mobbs, Virginia Moore and Carol Moder.

“I went to work one day and found out there was no more work and I was out of a job,” Mobbs explained during her remarks.  Mobbs went to school in England, but did not have the type of degree she needed in America to get different jobs. After losing her last job and not being sure what to do next, she decided to go to The Work Station and to Tri-County Career Center to earn her GED.

 “I got a lot of help from the employees at The Work Station. I could not have done it without them,” Mobbs said. She especially thanked Mike Garvin, McGowan and Candy Byron.

“She was amazing,” she said about Byron, who is a teacher. “They were all there for me whenever I needed them.”  She is thankful for the help she received and excited about the doors that have opened up to her now that she has her GED.

 “Now I have a great job,” Mobbs said. “I couldn’t be in a better place in my life.”

Shown from left to right are Speaker Virginia Moore, the graduates walking in before the ceremony and speaker Fiona Mobbs

Moore explained that she dropped out of school when she was pregnant. It was hard to go back to school now after 13 years, but it was something that she wanted to do and felt like she had to do.

“It took me a long time to do this,” she said, adding that she greatly appreciated all of the support she received as she went through the program. “Thank you.”

Moore is the first of her mother’s four children to earn her GED, and she is now continuing her education at Hocking College, where she is studying nursing.

After the ceremony, Moore said that she decided to go back to school so that she could get a better paying job to provide for her family.

“In five years, I have to put my son through college,” she said. It took a lot of work to go back to school and receive her GED, and Moore said she was overcome with joy when she learned she had earned her GED.

“I just cried,” Moore said

.

Shown from left to right are KaSandra Wallace receiving her degree from Scott Hatfield while Joe McGowan looks on, the official Graduation Cake, and Robin Crothers receiving his degree from Scott Hatfield.

Moder had a hard time when she was in school when she was growing up and found out later in life that she had ADHD.  She dropped out of school and then went on to work several jobs and raise a family.  Because she never earned her degree, though, often had to lie when filling out job applications.

“I said I graduated,” she said. But while she was able to get by without the diploma, she didn’t want her children to have to do the same.

“I emphasized school, school,” Moder said.  After some changes with her current job, she learned that if she didn’t provide proof of her degree, she would lose her position.

 “Now what was I going to do?” Moder said. “I never dreamed that at 64 I’d need a high school diploma.” She loved her job and the people she worked with, so Moder chose to enroll in the ABLE program at The Work Station so that she could earn her GED.  And while she admitted that she still doesn’t understand algebra, Moder said that all of the assistance helped her a great deal and made it possible for her to earn her degree.

“When I found out I passed…I just sobbed and sobbed,” Moder said.

After the ceremony, graduate KaSandra Wallace said that now that she has her GED, she plans to study website design and e-business at Hocking College.

Graduate Charlotte Evans said she was homeschooled in Florida, but found out in the last year that she did not have the official degree that she needed for college. The staff members at The Work Station were very helpful in getting her signed up for the GED test and having the test fee waived, and Evans is thankful for all of the assistance. She is also now attending Hocking College.

Robin Crothers also decided to enroll in the GED program so that he could go onto earn his college degree and work in fields that provide more job security. He already has nearly completed his first year of studies in the computer networking program at Hocking College and after he graduates in 2012, he plans to study computer science at Franklin University. Crothers said that teacher Scott Hatfield was particularly helpful, and he was thankful for all of the assistance from the staff members at The Work Station.

Shown above in the top row from left to right are The Back Porch Swing Band performing after the ceremony and Fiona Mobbs receiving her degree from Scott Hatfield. Shown in the second row are Robin Crothers after the ceremony and the graduates lining up before the ceremony. The bottom photo shows the graduates during the ceremony.