Agnes who was a basic reader for many years is now studying for the ministry. Her attitude toward learning says it all: “You can never stop learning … Keep reading, read everything you can. Everything you read you use, so don’t give up.”

Higher Education

Of the 28 participants who enrolled in higher education, ten earned college or advanced degrees. An additional four participants received Associate degrees, bringing the total of earned degrees to 14 or 50 percent of those that enrolled in higher education. Of the 14 participants listed as taking college courses but not graduating, seven are still enrolled as part-time students accumulating credits year after year as time and money permit. Their stories and those of the higher education graduates reveal a pattern of lifelong learning impacted by personal and employment cha llenges but always driven by a fierce determination to succeed.

Sarah’s Story

In 1971, at the age of 16, Sarah dropped out of high school, married and had two children within a three-year time period. In 1974, feeling a need to further her education, she enrolled in a community adult education center and one year later passed the GED with fairly high scores. In 1977, she took a Vo-Tech keypunch program and was hired for a temporary position in the tax office. After her third child was born in 1979, she decided to stay home in order to raise the children. When her husband was laid off from his job in 1983, Sarah went to work as a grocery store cashier. Her interest in social work led her to volunteer at a domestic abuse shelter. In 1990, she took refresher courses in algebra and geometry at the adult center and succeeded in passing her college entrance exams.

At the age of 36, Sarah struggled to be a wife, mother, college student, employee and volunteer. Six years later at the age of 41, she graduated with a 3.88 GPA and a BS in Social Work. In 1996, she was hired by the social service agency at which she had volunteered for eight years. She worked there until 2000 when she was recruited by the adult center as a teacher for their new Family Literacy program. As to the future, this lifelong learner says:

I’m still struggling with thinking about going on for my Master’s...Financially, if someone would say here is the money to get your Master’s, I may be able to fit it in. I think about f inancially and time-wise, I’m not able to do that right now, but that is a goal I may consider in the future. I do continue to get education anywhere I can; anytime workshops come up in our agency and it’s something that sparks my interest. I am always working on continuing education because education is very important to me.