ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The school year might still be several weeks away, but the staff at the Adult Education Center is already preparing for incoming students, according to Adult Education Director Katie Reck.
“Right now, we're doing enrollment for past students, and enrollment to the public will open July 15, and enrollment will go until Aug. 2 for our GED and ELA classes,” Reck said. “Anyone wanting to enroll can call or walk in or get in touch with us any way they feel most comfortable, and the idea is they will come in, fill out the necessary paperwork, and pay the fee, which is $50 per program – i.e. if someone only needs the GED program, it's only $50, but if someone needs both the GED and ELA classes, it'll be $100. The Adult Education Center is located at 520 N. Washington Ave., and people can visit with staff during the regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to get that process going. And, because of our funding, we don't require Social Security numbers or those forms of identification, but we do have an age requirement – you have to be 16 years old in order to enroll, and you have to bring proof you're not enrolled anywhere else.”
Like with past years, Reck said she hopes to see high enrollment.
“In previous years, we've been fully staffed, and our classes have almost always been full, and we have about 25 students per class, and we're increasing that to 30 for this year,” Reck said. “We've also hired three brand-new instructors, so we'll be able to provide more – for example, if someone hasn't been able to take classes in the past because of the capacity being met, we're hoping to amp that up now. If you haven't been able to get in in the past, you'll have a better chance now.”
That expansion is very exciting, Reck said.
“We're really excited to have a lot of people in the building again – we've been slightly short-staffed, and things have been kind of quiet around here the past year from what I understand, so we're excited to get that energy back into the building,” Reck said. “There's nothing better than having all those students all in a classroom learning together and being excited to move into the next chapter of their lives. We're excited to see the building filled again. Having so many new instructors, that's really exciting for us because one of them has worked in the U.S. as well as parts of the Middle East and Europe, so she's got a wealth of knowledge. Another one of our instructors is kind of coming home himself, he's been working out in California and is coming back. These new instructors have a lot of great energy, and we're really excited for that. We're also adding digital and financial literacy, which we think is really important. If you come and take our ELA course, we'll also incorporate those, so while you're learning English, we'll also teach you about how banking works and how to write checks and things like that. We've got that new curriculum coming in, that's all being provided by the state. We also have a new space on the Tech Campus that will be developed and opened within the next couple months, so if it's hard to get to the Adult Education Center building, a student can meet with a teacher there on the Tech Campus. For the students in the Accelerating Opportunity – Kansas (AO-K), which is our co-enrollment program that allows students to earn their high school diploma while also enrolling in one of the six pathways, which include: HVAC, CDL truck driving, welding, CNA, CMA, phlebotomy. We've also got a special program for this year for agriculture for migrant workers.”
For those thinking of enrolling, Reck said they should just go for it.
“The great thing about these classes is, this isn't like a college course where it's a full semester and a lot of money and all of that. These classes are meant to be for the community, and the enrollment fee is only $50 – and if you REALLY struggle with that, we might be able to provide some assistance in that regard,” Reck said. “These are eight-week classes, and what's great is we don't have a time when you should come or how many classes you have to take, it's all about what you need and taking the classes for as long as you need to – for example, if you're not as skilled in your English skills, you can come in and take classes for a full year or until you feel like you're fully ready to move into the workforce. Or, if you don't have your high school diploma and you're a great reader but struggle with math, you can come and just focus on math and take as long as you need before you pass the required tests. We really do cater to individual needs, and the expectation on our end is for this to be an experience that's not intimidating. It's not a massive commitment, but you'll see massive results when you finish.”
With everything that will be going on for the coming year, Reck said the overall goal is to help the students be successful upon their graduation from the program(s).
“It's definitely a lot, and can maybe seem overwhelming, but we're here to help, and the main focus is on the students and what they need in order to be successful,” Reck said. “We want our students to be successful – we want them to come to the Adult Education Center with optimism and excitement and then leave with the skills they need in order to be successful and move forward in their lives. That might be going into the workforce or going to college and furthering their education, wherever their path takes them, and those extra literacy classes are a good way to help with that success.”
Overall, Reck said, it should be a good year.
“We're using the slogan 'It's never too late to graduate' to promote this next school year, so we really want to emphasize how it's never too late to gain the skills you need in order to be successful in the next chapter in your life,” Reck said.
