By Carla Kucinski
John H. Moody is on a mission.
In December 2013, he received his GED from Guilford Technical
Community College - a dream he’s put off for most of his life. But now that
he’s accomplished that goal, he has the confidence and drive to take his
education further.
“It’s time for me to finish what I started,” said Moody, 48
of Greensboro.
Moody currently works third shift as a production manager at
a textile mill in Pleasant Garden, N.C., but his goal is to receive a college
degree in radiography and start classes in the fall at GTCC. He hasn’t been in
a classroom in 30 years, not since he enlisted in the United States Marine
Corps just shy of his 18th birthday and dropped out of high school. But
Moody won’t let that deter him. Now, he says, he’s ready for “a new start.”
“It’s something I know I need to do and want to do,” he said.
To prepare for his first semester, Moody enrolled in Get on
Track, a new pilot program at GTCC that helps Adult Education students who
earned a GED or Adult High School diploma transition to college. The weeklong program
guides students step-by-step through the application process from finding a
career path to completing pre-orientation. Get on Track also gives students an
opportunity to meet faculty and staff members, learn more about their academic
program and tour GTCC’s main campus in Jamestown. In addition, students gain skills
in time management, test-taking, studying and computers.
Moody turned to Get on Track to sharpen his test-taking
skills and to navigate the enrollment process. And now that he’s completed the
program, he’s even more eager to start classes.
“I’m looking forward to actually hitting books,” he says,
smiling.
Transformations like Moody’s are the kind of results Get on
Track organizers hope for.
“We want to improve access and help students get a good
start,” said Kristi Short, who spearheaded the program, with collaboration from
various departments across campus. Short is GTCC’s implementation director for
Completion by Design, a five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
initiative to increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students
under age 26. Get on Track is one way of achieving that goal; it gives students
an on–ramp to college and demystifies the college experience, Short says.
“We’re walking them through the process step-by-step to make
sure they complete all the steps to enroll and to reduce their anxiety,” Short
said.
Once a student is registered, their progress will be tracked
throughout the year to help them stay on target and work through any roadblocks
they encounter. As an extra incentive, the GTCC Foundation will fund one
three-credit course in the fall for each student who completes the Get on Track
program.
Transitioning to college can be difficult, particularly for
GED and Adult High School graduates, who often have more obstacles to overcome
than the average student, says Martha Bergman, dean of adult education at GTCC.
Many face financial challenges and do not have transportation to get to campus
or a home computer to do school work. But intimidation is the biggest
deterrent, Bergman says.
“That’s a really big piece of it,” she says. “I think we lose
some students because of the fear factor.”
That fear is rooted in a number of reasons. Typically, GED
and Adult High School graduates were unsuccessful in the high school arena, so
attending college can be a scary step. Age is also a factor. Some wait years to
return to school and then worry they won’t fit in or succeed academically. The
Get on Track program aims to reduce those anxieties and remove some of the barriers
that prevent students from continuing their education.
“These are the students who are the hardest served; they’ve
overcome a lot of obstacles to get here,” Bergman said. “Any bridge we can
provide for students is going to increase the likelihood that they will enroll
and stay in a program.”
One of those students is Jennifer Beavers of High Point. Two
years ago, she dropped out of high school when she became pregnant at 16 and
put her future on hold to take care of her daughter, Jes’arie. By the time her
daughter turned one, Beavers started to rethink her future, and with constant
encouragement from her mother, she received her GED from GTCC in November 2013.
Achieving that goal empowered her to do more.
“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” she said.
Today, 18-year-old Beavers plans to study nursing at GTCC and
participated in Get on Track to help her through the application process and
brush up on her math skills. Beavers wants to be a neonatal nurse, a decision
she made after her 9-month-old niece, Kayleigh, died suddenly two years ago.
“Each baby I save, I know I’ll be doing right by her,” Beavers said.
Get on Track allowed Beavers to learn more about GTCC’s
nursing program and tour its facilities, which further reinforced her career
choice. Standing in the middle of one of the simulation labs, Beavers smiled
with tears in her eyes as she looked at the infant mannequins around her and
began to envision her future. Later on that day, she reflected on the
experience.
“I love everything about this place,” Beavers said. “There’s
a lot of help here. …
“I’m looking forward to making friends, and I really can’t wait
to start the nursing classes. All of the classes are amazing. I want August to
get here now.”
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