Transcript

My name is Alvin Payton, Jr.  I am the Vice President for Adult Education Services at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College.  Now when you hear the name Adult Education Services you might say what in the world is that.  Well, more people or most people know it by GED.  Our program is responsible for students wanting to get their GED and we’re also responsible for people wanting to improve their English as a second language.  Now getting your GED is just the first step to success.  Obviously, we know in today’s world you need more than a high school diploma or GED.  So our program also encourages students to transition to secondary education.

Now secondary education hopefully encourages them to come to Wiregrass Georgia Technical College which offers many varieties of different diplomas and degrees and certificates.  But our program serves an 11-county area, the same area that Wiregrass Georgia serves.  We see about 2500 students per year and we have about 900 GED graduates per year, which is more than most high schools in our area.  But we’re very, very proud of what we do.  Our students can range in age from 16 to no age limit.  We recently had a person 72 years of age get her GED.  And we’ve had students that are 16 get their GEDs.

Imagine if you’re in a classroom with a 16-year-old sitting next to her grandmother, and we have some of that.  We have husbands and wives.  We have sisters and brothers.  We have mothers and fathers in there with their kids.  So it is amazing to me, even at this day and time, how many students—how many people are first generation GED graduates.  One misconception you might have about Adult Education or GED and that is that students are not able to learn.  And I totally disagree because we have many students that have gotten their GED and gone on to four-year universities and become very, very successful.

Now if I was a business owner, and I have been, you want people that are sort of self-motivated, self-starters, and we find that many of our Adult Education students are that way.  Some of them have been able to mask their not having a GED for years.  We recently had a young man come back to our program, lost a job paying about $60,000 a year because he didn’t have his GED.  He was able to mask it all those years.  So the point I’m trying to make is that Wiregrass offers opportunities for students and individuals a second chance at their education.  We have a motto right now that’s called Finish What You Started.  

You would be surprised how many people, how many people out there that are very, very successful, my sister being one, that are GED graduates, and she went on to graduate from college as well.  So Finish What You Started is one of the mottos that we use.  As a matter of fact, there is a national campaign right now that you might see on television that talks about when you earn your GED walls will begin to fall, and I can attest to that.  So again, the Governor sees the importance of education because he has some say, "Go to College Georgia."  So we encourage our students once you get your GED to transition into secondary education.

For more information on Adult Education Services at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, please call 333-2123 to get more information about the classes and their locations, as well as about GED testing.